Wicklow Gaol

Prison in Wicklow, Ireland

52°58′44″N 6°02′14″W / 52.978835°N 6.037132°W / 52.978835; -6.037132Construction started1702Completed1843Renovated1995Demolished1954 (partial)Technical detailsMaterialslate, granite, red brick, timber, cast iron, concreteFloor count3Design and constructionArchitect(s)William Vitruvius Morrison

Wicklow Gaol is a former prison, now a museum, located in the town of Wicklow, County Wicklow, Ireland

History

Prison

There has been a prison on the site since the late eighteenth century. Prisoners were held at Wicklow Gaol during the 1798 Rebellion and the Great Famine, as well as many held there prior to penal transportation.^[1]

The prison was extended in 1822 to a design by William Vitruvius Morrison, and further extended 1842-3.^[2]

The prison in 1877 was demoted to the status of ‘bridewell’, a prison for petty offenders awaiting trial, and closed down by 1900, but reopened in 1918 to hold republican prisoners during the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War (the most famous of them was Erskine Childers); the last prisoners left in 1924.^[3]^[4]

Museum

In 1995 renovations began, and it reopened as a museum in 1998, claiming to be one of the world's most haunted buildings, due to the long history of suffering associated with it. The prison was featured on a 2009 episode of Ghost Hunters International.^[5]^[6]

References

^ "Wicklow gaol listed among the top 10 most haunted places in the world – WicklowNews".
^ 1820-1843: Building Expansion
^ 1916-1923: The Independence Era
^ 1928-2014-closure-renovation/ 1928-2014: Closure and Renovation
^ "'Haunted' Wicklow jail to feature on TV show". The Independent. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^ "Wicklow's Gaol". IMDB. Retrieved 2 November 2019.