Kilmainham Gaol

After the GPO we use our 48 hour ticket for the bus to get to the former prison Kilmainham Gaol. It was built in 1798. the intention was to put one prinsoner into one cell. This would avoid the very bad conditions by that time. But after some time, they had to fill up the cells with up to 5 prisoners, with a peak of 9000 prisoners during the famine. By that time, people were committing crimes on purpose in order to get into the prison as the conditions inside were much better than outside. During the whole period, there were lots of political prionners especially 14 of the 16 from the rising, who were also executed here. Others, until the mid 1800s were put here to wait for the ship for Australia. Nowadays, the prisons is a major tourist attraction and also used as location for movies.Read more