Kilmainham Gaol
Kilmainham Gaol
Inchicore Rd, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, D08 RK28
Ph: (01) 453 5984
Hours: Open 7 days
9 am to 17.30 pm
Admission:
Adult €8 ;
Child (12-17) €8 ,
Child (under 12) FREE (but must have a valid FREE ticket)
Student (18+) €4
Family (2 adults + 2/3 kids) €20
Seniors (60+) €6
All children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
All info: Website: https://kilmainhamgaolmuseum.ie/
info:
✨Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland that has since been turned into a museum by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland.
✨The prison where many Irish revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, were imprisoned and executed by the orders of the UK Government, holds a lot of history.
✨When it was first built in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol was called the “New Gaol” to distinguish it from the old prison it was intended to replace. The old prison, a noisome dungeon, was located just a few hundred metres from the present site. The gaol was officially called the County of Dublin Gaol and was originally run by the Grand Jury for County Dublin.
✨There was no segregation of prisoners at the Georgian Prison; men, women, and children were all incarcerated up to 5 in each cell. They had only a single candle for light and heat and spent most of their time in the cold and the dark. Each candle had to last for two weeks. The cells were roughly 28 square meters in area. Children were sometimes arrested for petty theft; the youngest was said to be a seven-year-old child. Many of the adult prisoners were transported to Australia.
✨Kilmainham Gaol was decommissioned as a prison in 1924 by the Irish Free State government. At the time, it was seen as a site of oppression and suffering with no declared interest in its preservation as a monument to the struggle for national independence.
✨In February 1960, the Department of Finance approved the society’s detailed plan for the restoration project, which included developing the site into a tourist attraction. In May 1960, the prison keys were officially handed over to a board of trustees, made up of five members nominated by the society and two by the government.
✨Kilmainham Gaol is a large, former prison in Dublin, Ireland that is now a museum. The Kilmainham courthouse, which was attached to the prison and served as the Dublin District Court until 2008, was redeveloped as part of a larger project to refurbish the Kilmainham Gaol and the surrounding Kilmainham Plaza in advance of the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. The courthouse reopened in 2015 as the attached visitor’s centre for the gaol.
Kilmainham Gaol (Jail)
Built in 1796 Kilmainham Gaol museum is a former prison and largest unoccupied goals in Europe and Largest preserved Victorian jail in Europe. It was opened as a jail and held generations of criminals. Public hangings took place at the front of the prison, but later in 1891 a small hanging room was built in prison for public and private hanging. The prison conditions were extremely bad: one small cell would be filled with 5 people: man, woman and even children. They were given one candle per 2 weeks for heath and light.
Later on, the prison has held countless Irish revolutionaries- many of most important historical figures spent time in this jail, for some of them it was a place, where they were executed.
In 1960’s the jail was restored and now is one of the biggest historical attractions in Dublin, offering guided tours. It’s extremely popular historic attraction in Dublin, where lots of film scenes were made, as well as video clip for U2 and a few BBC programmes.
Kilmainham Gaol is more than a prison and witnessed the most important steps in Irish history. It’s a very popular and a must to see Dublin attraction, so book you tickets in advance, to avoid disappointment.