Kilmainham Gaol: If Walls Could Talk

Kilmainham Gaol opened in 1796, four years before the Act of Union abolished the Irish Parliament in Dublin and replaced it with direct rule from Westminster. It closed in 1924, two years after the signing of the Treaty. Thus the opening and closing of the Gaol more or less coincided with the making and breaking of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland. The Gaol’s history as a prison, the fate of the common man and woman and convict, is a compelling story in its own right.