Ireland 2015: Kilmainham Gaol

This museum is sacred ground for the Irish, primarily because most of the key figures in the Irish struggle for independence were held within its walls.

The guided tour began in the chapel. The door behind the altar led to a walkway that ended outside above the jail entrance, where public hangings were held until 1865.

When the jail opened in 1796, it was one of the most modern prisons in Ireland. In the early years, debtors comprised over half of the prison population. During the first half of the 19th century, the jail housed prisoners awaiting transportation to convict colonies in Australia. The final years of the Irish Famine saw a huge increase in the number of prisoners entering Kilmainham Gaol - likely due to increased charges for begging and stealing food, as well as the incentive of actually getting fed in jail.

Below is a series of pictures from the stone-breakers yard, where between the 3rd and 12th of May 1916, fourteen leaders of the Easter Rising were executed. While the rising did not have popular support due to the considerable damage caused to the city center, that quickly changed when the British executed the leaders thereby making them martyrs for Irish independence. This brought about a sea change in public attitudes, and support for the Republicans rose dramatically.

James Connolly, whom we believe to be Grandpa Connolly's cousin, was shot during the rising and would likely have died in the hospital from gangrene. People were particularly incensed when he was brought from the hospital, strapped to a chair, and shot by British soldiers. Above we are standing by the cross marking the site of his execution.

Below is the declaration that Ireland was now a republic, read by Padraig Pearse on the steps of the General Post Office which the revolutionaries had claimed as their headquarters.