Some photos from my school trip to Kilmainham Gaol in May. I’d never been before, even though I used to pass it every day on the way to school. (I didn’t get any photos of the outside because there were students everywhere and I couldn’t get a clear shot.) We were given a tour (I just so happened to know the guide which was fun), it was very interesting and informative. The gaol itself has an eerie sort of atmosphere; it’s very quiet and still, and really well preserved, most of the cells still have the graffiti made by the prisoners held in them. The photos [left to right]: 1: A single black cross stands near the edge of the courtyard (Stonebreaker’s Yard). This cross marks the spot where 13 of the leaders of the 1916 rising were executed between May 3rd and May 12th of 1916. 2: The Irish flag stands in the centre of the Yard. A British flag would have been raised here at the time of the Rising 3,4,5,6: These picture the East Wing of the gaol, which was designed by architect John McCurdy and built in the 1860s (the Gaol first opened in 1796). There are ninety-six cells in the East Wing, and all face inward toward a centre platform. This design, new at the time and based on Jeremy Bentham’s “Panopticon”. This meant that these cells were easier to guard than the West Wing, because fewer guards were needed to look over all the cells. I didn’t get a picture of it, but the East Wing has a number of underground chambers where prisoners’ punishments were carried out. 7: This photo is of the painting on the wall of what was Grace Gifford-Plunkett’s cell during the Civil War. During the war, Grace got hold of some crayons and drew many sketches and cartoons on her cell walls, including this image which has been dubbed the “Kilmainham Madonna”. However, the painting that is on the wall now is not by Grace herself. In fact, it is not the original work at all. The Gaol was closed in 1924 and between then and the Restoration in 1960 the building fell into ruin, the East Wing more than most other areas. Grace’s drawings were badly damaged, but Tom Ryan, an Irish Artist and President of the RHA, copied Grace’s original crayon artwork onto the newly replastered wall of the cell. Ryan used oil paints rather than crayons in his reproduction, so the painting is a fresco. This is the art you would see today were you to visit Kilmainham Gaol. 8: There are two Chapels in the prison: Protestant and Catholic, but only the Catholic one is open to the public. Catholic prisoners would have attended mass here every Sunday. This is where Joseph Plunkett and Grace Gifford were married in May 1916, just hours before Joseph was executed by a firing squad.
