 | |
  Location in Cork | |
| Location | Convent Avenue, Sunday's Well, T23 VX25 Cork |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°53′58″N8°29′56″W / 51.899530°N 8.499022°W |
| Status | museum prison |
| Opened | 1824 |
| Closed | August 1923 |
Cork City Gaol is a former prison, now a museum, located in Cork City, Ireland.
In 1806 an Act of Parliament was passed to allow the building of a new Cork City Gaol to replace the old gaol at the North Gate Bridge (the old gaol, which was nearly 100 years old, was on a confined site and was overcrowded and unhygienic). [1] The first site chosen for the new prison was at distillery fields, but this site was later deemed to be unsuitable because it was prone to flooding. [1] A site on Sunday's Well was eventually chosen, its altitude being seen as an advantage for containing "gaol fever" (typhus). [1] The site, its approach roads and perimeters was commenced in 1816 and the building of the prison proper started in 1818. [1]
The building was designed by William Robertson of Kilkenny and built by the Deane family. [1] The famous sculptor John Hogan worked on the building as a draughtsman. [1]
The new Cork City Gaol opened in 1824 and was reported as being "the finest in 3 kingdoms". [1] In 1870, the west wing was remodelled into a double-sided cell wing. [1]
When the prison opened in the 1820s, it housed both male and female prisoners whose crimes were committed within the city boundary. Those who committed a crime outside that boundary were sent to Cork County Gaol, across the river from the City Gaol near University College Cork. [1]
The Fenian Brian Dillon was remanded at Cork City Gaol when he was arrested in September 1865. [2]
The 1878 General Prisons (Ireland) Act reorganised the prisons in Cork. The Cork City Gaol became a women's gaol (for Cork City and Cork County) and the Cork County Gaol near University College Cork became the men's gaol (for Cork City and Cork County). On the day the change came into effect, male prisoners were marched out of the Sunday's Well Prison and over to the Western Road Gaol, while the women were marched in the opposite direction. [1]
Many of the prisoners in the late 19th century were repeat offenders locked up for what would not today be imprisonable offences; for example, a woman named Mary Tucker from Rathmore in County Cork was imprisoned at least three times between 1849 and 1908, sometimes for offences such as 'Obscene Language' or 'Drunkenness'. [3]
During the Irish War of Independence Republican women prisoners were imprisoned in the gaol. [1]
In October 1919, Constance Markievicz, the first woman to be elected to the British Parliament, was imprisoned at Cork Gaol for making a seditious speech. [4]
In January 1919, another member of Cumann na mBan, Mary Bowles, was imprisoned for arms offences. Later that month a Republican prisoner named Dolly Burke escaped from the prison. [5]
In 1922 and 1923, the prison was opened to male and female Republican (anti-treaty) prisoners of the Irish Civil War. [1]
One of those imprisoned at the time was the writer Frank O'Connor. [1]
A spectacular escape was made from the gaol in November 1923. The escapees were high-value prisoners who had been sent to the gaol as it was "the safest place to hold them". Some men had feigned illness on the night preceding the escape. A rope ladder was made to scale the outer wall, and bed clothes were used to descend to the ground by night. After the prisoners had lowered themselves to the ground inside the wall, they had to huddle in its shadow in sight of a sentry. The position of the moon at a certain hour had to be estimated in order to conceal the movements of the men in the shadows. They went in batches of fourteen as that was the number that could fit in the shadow of the wall, the most wanted men being given preference in order of the serious nature of their charges. All the men in the first batch were liable to the death penalty and cast lots for the order in line. When number nine went over the wall some noise attracted the sentry, and he made movements which caused the prisoner to balk. After a few moments silence, the action was resumed, and three batches amounting to forty two men, escaped with a lapse of fifteen minutes between each batch. It was a frosty night and they had to travel in stockinged feet. Some of those who escaped were natives of Cork City and got clear of there before daylight, but others in the last few batches were recaptured later in the day. [1]
The gaol closed in August 1923, with all remaining prisoners either released or transferred to other prisons. [1]
From 1927 the top floor of the Governors house was used as a radio broadcasting station by 6CK, the first official radio station in Cork, Ireland. 6CK was succeeded by a national radio station – Radio Éireann (now Raidió Teilifís Éireann), and broadcasting continued at the gaol until the 1950s. [1]
Apart from the radio broadcasting and some storage use of the exterior grounds by the Dept, Posts & Telegraphs, the gaol complex was allowed to become totally derelict. [1]
The building reopened to the public as a visitor attraction in 1993.
HM Prison Dartmoor is a Category C men's prison, located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor. The prison is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, and is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
Na Fianna Éireann, known as the Fianna, is an Irish nationalist youth organisation founded by Constance Markievicz in 1909, with later help from Bulmer Hobson. Fianna members were involved in setting up the Irish Volunteers, and had their own circle of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). They took part in the 1914 Howth gun-running and in the 1916 Easter Rising. They were active in the War of Independence and many took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War.
Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison in Kilmainham, Dublin, Ireland. It is now a museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Government of Ireland. Many Irish revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, were imprisoned and executed in the prison by the orders of the UK Government.
Constance Georgine Markievicz, also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament, and was elected Minister for Labour in the First Dáil, becoming the first female cabinet minister in Europe. She served as a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South constituency from 1921 to 1922 and 1923 to 1927. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Dublin St Patrick's from 1918 to 1922.
HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison that was first established in 1851 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997.
Mountjoy Prison, founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current prison Governor is Ray Murtagh.
HM Prison Reading, popularly known as Reading Gaol, is a former prison located in Reading, Berkshire, England. The prison was operated by His Majesty's Prison Service until its closure at the start of 2014. It is a Grade II listed building and sits on the site of Reading Abbey.
Cumann na mBan, abbreviated C na mB, is an Irish republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in Dublin on 2 April 1914, merging with and dissolving Inghinidhe na hÉireann, and in 1916, it became an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers. Although it was otherwise an independent organisation, its executive was subordinate to that of the Irish Volunteers, and later, the Irish Republican Army.
HM Prison Belfast, also known as Crumlin Road Gaol, is a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since 1996 it is the only remaining Victorian era former prison in Northern Ireland. It is colloquially known as the Crum.
The executions during the Irish Civil War took place during the guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War. This phase of the war was bitter, and both sides, the government forces of the Irish Free State and the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (IRA) insurgents, used executions and terror in what developed into a cycle of atrocities. From November 1922, the Free State government embarked on a policy of executing Republican prisoners in order to bring the war to an end. Many of those killed had previously been allies, and in some cases close friends, of those who ordered their deaths in the civil war. In addition, government troops summarily executed prisoners in the field on several occasions. The executions of prisoners left a lasting legacy of bitterness in Irish politics.
Con Lehane was a left-wing nationalist, a 1930s member of the IRA Army Council, solicitor, actor and politician.
Sligo Gaol or Sligo Prison, is a former prison located in Sligo, County Sligo, Ireland, which was open from 1823 to 1959.
6CK was the first official radio station in Cork, Ireland and formed part of the national radio service of the Irish Free State. The station was set up in 1927 as an expansion of 2RN, the national station established in Dublin the previous year. It aired on medium wave, initially on the 400-metre band ; on 15 January 1929 it switched to 222 metres and on 10 June of that year switched to 224 metres.
Tadhg Crowley was an Irish revolutionary and Fianna Fáil politician. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Limerick constituency at the June 1927 general election.
St. Patrick's Borstal Institution, Clonmel, was established in Ireland in 1906 as a place of detention for young male offenders aged between 16 and 21, and located in Clonmel, County Tipperary.
Rose McNamara was an Irish nationalist, republican, and Vice Commandant during the Easter Rising of 1916.
Cork County Gaol was a former prison located in Cork, Ireland. The main walls and gate entrance of the prison are today incorporated in the perimeter of University College Cork.
Dundalk Gaol is a former gaol (prison) in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. The men's wing is now "The Oriel Centre", the women's wing is the Louth County Archive and the Governor's House now a Garda station.
In October 1923 mass hunger strikes were undertaken by Irish republican prisoners protesting the continuation of their internment without trial. The Irish Civil War had ended six months earlier yet the newly formed Provisional Government of the Irish Free State was slow in releasing the thousands of Irish republican prisoners opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
Fergus O'Connor was an Irish publisher and supporter of Irish Independence. Born in Cork, but working mostly in Dublin, he was imprisoned for his role in support of the 1916 Easter Rising. He later printed several early works of Seán O'Casey. The National Library of Ireland holds a collection of his photographic images.
Media related to Cork City Gaol at Wikimedia Commons
