After class today, we went on a field trip to Kilmainham Jail, a place where many famous Irish revolutionaries were held and where some lost their lives. The jail itself was built in the late 1700s, with a "modern" addition about 50 years later.
When the jail was built, it was very progressive and one of the first jails to have cells. Before then, most jails just held all prisoners in one big room and said "have at it." Men, women, and children were all imprisoned in Kilmainham, and not surprisingly, the population of the jail surged around the time of the Great Famine in the late 1840s. In a tiny cell, there could be as many as 8 people living in it for weeks.
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| My friend Amber demonstrating how small the cells are! |
The jail was actually super creepy, and to stand where 15 of the leaders of the Easter Rebellion in 1916 were executed by firing squad (two weren't executed-- one was American and one was a woman) was really eerie. Seeing where many other prisoners were hanged, either publically or later privately, was also a little scary. After an hour inside the jail, I couldn't wait to get out and be back in the rare sunshine!
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| Creepy jail |
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| The names of the 15 executed |
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| Where they were executed |
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