I arrived early so I toured the museum exhibits first.
Today the building symbolizes the tradition of militant and constitutional nationalism from the rebellion of 1798 to the Irish Civil War of 1922–23. Leaders of all major rebellions were detained and in some cases, executed here. Of course, they were guarded by cruel British troops.
In addition to those imprisoned for traditional crimes and political prisoners, thousands of ordinary men women and children were detained here. Their crimes often consisted of petty offenses such as stealing food. The potato famine drove many to steal food. Convicts from many parts of Ireland were held here for long periods at then eventually transported to Australia.
More than 150,000 people were imprisoned here. 140 of them were executed.
Rules for the prisoners involved the Three S—Silence, supervised and separated (the genders.) All serious crimes were sentenced to hanging.
Children were primarily there for stealing food. Even a a 5-year old hungry boy was there.
10% of prisoners were political.
The five crimes that were considered capital crimes were murder, rape, larceny, treason and piracy.
“The Easter uprising” is the catalyst for the independence of Ireland and the closing of the jail.
12 British soldiers were on the firing squad for political prisoners. Criminal prisoners were publicly hanged.
Executions of Easter Uprising prisoners angered the Irish so that they inspired the final Irish war of independence.
Volunteers restored the building which had fallen into disrepair for almost 40 years.
Of note, I downloaded the “big bed bus” app and followed our route. There is free Wi-Fi onboard.
I just noticed I grabbed the wrong currency. I left my euro coins in my room by mistake, and brought my British coins instead. Fortunately I kept my euro bills in my wallet. I am meet more and more people who only use credit cards – – no cash.
Thank you for reading my posts. It’s a real challenge to create this using Siri, a teeny I-phone keyboard, and auto correction that is often incorrect.
