Spike Island, County Cork

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Spike Island, County Cork, Ireland, is an island of 104 acres in Cork Harbour on the approaches to Cork.

It was significant in the French intervention following the Glorious Revolution, and was later purchased by the British government in 1779 - becoming the site of Fort Westmoreland. (Named for John Fane, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.)

Later a prison and convict depot, it was used to house "convicts" prior to penal transportation. It remained in use as a garrison and prison through the Irish War of Independence, when IRA prisoners were held there. Richard Barrett was among those detained there, but escaped during the truce of 1921.

Following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and handover to the new Irish state, the island's installations were renamed Fort Mitchel (after John Mitchel, nationalist activist and political journalist).

The island remained the site of a prison and military base (for both the regular Irish Army and the FCÁ) for some time. Most recently it was used as a correctional facility for youth, when in 1985 it became mildly notorious when the inmates mutinied and briefly controlled the area. This facility closed in 2004.

In May 2006 Minister for Justice Michael McDowell announced plans to build a new prison on the island, however on 25th January 2007, he decided to explore an alternative site near an army base.