Kilmainham Gaol

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Victorian Wing

Kilmainham Gaol (sometimes spelt Kilmainham Jail) is a former prison, located in Inchicore in Dublin, which is now a museum.

Kilmainham Gaol has played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned and some executed in the jail. The jail has also been used as a set for several films.

When it was first built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol was called the 'New Gaol' to distinguish it from the old jail it was intended to replace - a noisome dungeon, just a few hundred metres from the present site. Over the 140 years it served as a prison, its cells held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. The leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and executed here, and the last prisoner held in the jail was Eamon de Valera.

Children were sometimes arrested for petty theft (also the case in UK), the youngest said to be a seven year-old boy [needs reference], while many of the adult prisoners were deported to Australia.

Kilmainham Gaol was abandoned as a jail in 1924, by the government of the new Irish Free State. Following lengthy restoration, it now houses a museum on the history of Irish nationalism and offers guided tours of the building.

1 Famous prisoners
2 Films that have been filmed at the jail
3 Photographs
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] Famous prisoners

Henry Joy McCracken, 1796
Robert Emmet, 1803
Anne Devlin, 1803
Michael Dwyer, 1803
William Smith O'Brien, 1848
Thomas Francis Meagher, 1848
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, 1867
Dr J. E. Kenny, 1881
Charles Stewart Parnell, 1881
William O'Brien, 1881
James Joseph O'Kelly, 1881
Willie Redmond, 1882
Michael Davitt
Padraig Pearse, 1916
James Connolly, (Executed, but not held at, Kilmainham) 1916
Countess Markievicz, 1916
Eamon de Valera, 1916
Joseph Plunkett, 1916.
Michael O'Hanrahan, 1916
Edward Daly, 1916
Willie Pearse, (Younger brother of Padraig, who was unaware his brother was also to be executed) 1916
Grace Gifford, Mrs Joseph Plunkett (1922)

[edit] Films that have been filmed at the jail

[edit] Photographs

Prisoner crafts in Kilmainham Jail Museum.	Sculpture in Kilmainham Jail Museum.	Jail Chapel where Joseph Plunkett was married to Grace Gifford on the eve of his execution.	A view inside a locked cell.
Mural of a Madonna painted by Grace Gifford Plunkett while she was held during the Civil War.	Robert Emmet's cell door.	A view of the landing where the 1916 leaders were held before their execution.	The view from the prison courtyards.
The view from the prison courtyards.	Cross marking the place of execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.	Cross marking the place of execution of James Connolly.	Plaque marking the executions of the leaders of the 1916 Rising.