Cork City Gaol

On our journey through Ireland one of the coolest places we visited was Cork City Gaol. Opening in 1824, the gaol had quite a lively history. It started out as a harsh Victorian prison, then became a women-only penitentiary and then, finally, held some of the key figures in Ireland's fight for independence. Now it's a cool historical museum that tells the story of some of the inmates that were incarcerated there.

The gaol (pronounced jail) is high up on a hill in a part of Cork called Sunday's Well. You enter here at the gatehouse to buy tickets and you get to see two little videos of previous inmates telling their stories.

When you walk out of the gatehouse, this is what your see. On each side is a wing of the jail. Only one side is open for viewing. The center has other cool stuff to see.

This is a look back at the gate house from the other side.

As inmates came in through the gatehouse, they would proceed through here - the governor's garden and enter into the goal proper to be processed into the system. I googled a few of the "people" that we met in the museum and they were real! Seriously! I thought, for the purposes of the museum, they made people up but no.

When you walk in, the first inmate you meet is Mary Sullivan (on the left). She's waiting to see the governor. Mary is escorted by a female warder. Mary's a seamstress by trade. In 1865, following her eighth conviction, she received a seven year sentence for theft of cloth, which is an unusually long sentence for the crime.

The Governor's Office - Governor John Barry-Murphy is at his desk engrossed in his papers. He governed here between 1856 and 1873 and was the first Irish Catholic appointed to the post. All inmates met with the governor when they first entered the prison. All of their statistics were documented, height, weight, hair and eye color, age and details of their crime. As governor, Barry-Murphy earned £250 per year plus room and board.

This cool stairway is right inside the entrance and leads to the two upper floors.

This fella is guiding us to the next area and it would seem John has made a friend.

This is the Western Wing, which was remodeled in 1870 into a brighter more spacious double sided cell wing. The gallery was used for Sunday worship where prisoners lined the railing on the landing.  The fella at the top of the stairs is a guard. From that vantage point he had a good view of all that was going on.

The next inmate we encounter is Cornelius Kelleher. He's asleep in his cell. From the early 1800s, each inmate had a canvas mattress as they were considered healthier than the previous straw versions. He's serving time for drunk and disorderly behavior. He had just been released from serving a two-month sentence for the same offense when he was arrested and put back inside. I googled him and he was later arrested for sheep rustling and sentenced to "transportation", which meant he was shipped off to Australia.

We were encouraged to "try out the cells" ourselves. John didn't like it.

Our next inmate was James Burnes alias Henry White. He's been sentenced to six months hard labor on the treadwheel for obtaining goods under false pretenses. Using an alias, the con man posed as the son of Captain Smyth staying at the Imperial Hotel. Having conned a number of shop owners into delivery of a set of new clothes and some fine leather luggage to the hotel, he attempted to flee Cork before the bill was paid. One shop owner caught him just as the train for Dublin was about to leave.

Some people weren't thrown in jail, they were born here. Mary-Ann Twohig was sent here a short time before her baby was due. She was convicted of stealing a man's cloth cap along with some other clothing and some kitchen utensils with a plan to pawn them. While she was incarcerated, her son was born in the gaol hospital. She was released a few days early as her son had fallen ill.

This one was interesting. Mary McDonnell is the sleeping prisoner. She's charged with neglecting her children and for beathing one of them while being drunk. Hmm. What if she'd beat him while sober? She's a widow and had 56 (yes, I said 56!) previous convictions and, she's only twenty-three. Mary is serving one month and her children have been sent to the workhouse. The workhouse in 1856 Ireland is a miserable place where people were given food and shelter in exchange for hard labor. That would have to be tough on a kid.

Not all inmates were thieves. This is Countess Markievicz who came from landed gentry. In the early 20th century she had a deep concern for the working people and the poor. Here, she's writing a letter to her sister describing the conditions of her incarceration, which were quite good compared to others. In 1919, she was given a sentence of four months in Cork City Gaol for a seditious speech she delivered in Newmarket, warning her audience against the British authorities.

This was one of the creepiest exhibits. Not all inmates were adults. This is Julia Twomey. In the 1800s, even the pettiest of crimes carried a heavy sentence. She's spending her 14 day sentence picking oakum. She's 10 years old and was caught while attempting to steal a bellows from a shop on Georges Quay. Sadly, Julia can't read or write though she does know the alphabet. When she's completed her sentence, she be sent to reform school in Dublin for 3 years.

Edward O'Brien is a known pick-pocket and is serving a three-week sentence which includes twice-weekly whippings. This time he was caught stealing a couple of brass ball cocks. Even though he's only nine, the seasoned thief has already had seven previous convictions. He, too, will be shipped off to reform school in Dublin when he's released.

View from the first floor balcony. Note the path worn in the grass. That's the exercise yard. The prisoners would walk there in single file around the designated circle so that there could be no talking between them.

This fella is Dr. Beamish. He's the sole doctor for the entire goal. He visited the gaol at least once per day and would see anywhere from 80 to 100 patients per day. This is in addition to the 700 to 1,200 sick patients that he saw outside the prison. When he applied for a raise, he was denied.

Another view of the cell block showing all three floors.

The warder's room was a place where the warders spent their off-duty time. This wasn't a profession that was held in very high esteem. Many of the warders were only a small step from being inmates themselves. If they were convicted of dishonesty or drunkenness, they might find themselves locked up amongst the very inmates they had previously guarded.

Another view of the exercise yard. The building at the very back is the prison hospital and to the right, where the chimney is, was the prison kitchen.

This exhibit describes the various punishments meted out to the prisoners. The treadwheel was effectively a never ending staircase. If the prisoner was slow, he ran the risk of being dragged to the bottom while cuffed to his current place. There might be up to forty prisoners on the treadwheel for up to three hours a day. I can barely do this at the gym for five minutes! Oakum Picking was basically taking an old rope and picking it apart by untwisting the fibers. Clothes making was generally assigned to women prisoners. Stone breaking was hard labor, taking large stones and breaking them into smaller pieces. Shot Drill was picking up small cannonballs and moving them from one place to another. Whipping is just what it sounds like - beating with a multi-tailed whip called a cat-o-nine-tails. It was generally reserved for juveniles. There was also solitary confinement where prisoners were deprived of human contact and fed only bread and water. If prisoners tried to escape, their clothes were taken away from them, which could get very cold in the winter. Then there was transportation. If you were sentenced to more than seven years, you were shipped off to Australia. When you'd completed your sentence, you were on your own. If you didn't have money for passage back, you became an Australian.

A look out the window at the Western Wing of the prison.

The pillory. This was mainly used for humiliation. They'd lock you in this thing outside in front of everyone for a determined amount of time. People would throw rotten food at you or even spit on you. While I was able to pull my hands out of the holes, I wasn't able to do that with my head. This was not comfortable!

Back in the main entry way, we found this chair. All prisoners had to sit here to be weighed. This would help ensure that the correct amount of food was being given to a prison for them to maintain their weight.

Back behind the weighing chair and underneath the stairs was this secret passageway. It is said that this was the secret passage for the use of the Governor and his family only, and that it tunnels underground past the gatehouse to the Governor's home across the road.

This was the Debtors Gaol. Those who were unable to pay court-ordered judgements were sent here until they could pay off their debt by securing payment from the outside. This debtors prison opened in 1837 and could accommodate up to 36 people. Prior to that, pauper debtors were kept in a wing in the female side of the gaol. Life was a little more pleasant here in that inmates could wear their own clothes and often had food delivered from the outside.

Right behind this wall was the solidary confinement wing. Built in 1851, they were supposed to be used for regular cells but, due to non-compliance, they could only be used for solitary confinement. 

This was the gaol hospital.

I took a peek through one of the openings in the hospital and this is what I saw. It's too bad that they couldn't restore these out buildings as well. 

A view of the hospital from the other side. In the infirmary, men and women were strictly separated. Toilets and baths were added in the 1860s.

In 1878, the institution was repurposed as a women only prison. Then in the 1920s, during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War, Republican figures like Frank O'Connor and Constance Markievicz were held behind its walls.

In 1923, the prison closed it's doors. 

Then in 1927, the building was repurposed as a broadcasting studio for 6CK, Ireland's first local radio station. It remained in use as a radio station until the the late 1950s. After that, the building fell into disrepair and remained vacant until 1993 when it received an extensive restoration and opened as a museum.

I'm grateful that the buildings and the history was saved. I really enjoyed seeing the museum and would recommend it for a visit if you're in Cork. It was cool to see some of the actual prisoners that were incarcerated there as well as their stories.

Blarney Castle & Village

When touring Europe, you would think the best way to see various places is via a tour group. I'm all about the guided tour but sometimes, it makes sense (and cents) to go it on your own. When visiting the village and castle of Blarney, that's just what we did.

We took the city bus! That's right. I can't figure out the bus system at home but I was able to figure out how to take the city bus to the village of Blarney.

The bus dropped us off right in the center of the Village and we walked around the corner to what was an old train station to get tickets to the castle.

At one time there was a train that went from Cork to Blarney and this was the train station at the foot/entrance of the castle grounds.

The grounds are amazing. It was drizzling when we were there but that didn't stop us from enjoying the scenery. Everyone went straight to the castle. We chose a more indirect route. This is the River Blarney if I'm not mistaken. There were two rivers that met here: River Blarney and River Martin.

This was our first glimpse of Blarney Castle. It was built around 1446 and is known as a tower house. It once belonged to the MacCarthy clan and was a typical tower house plan with four or five stories and one or two rooms or chambers on each floor. A second tower was added 100 years after the first. Unfortunately, the MacCarthy's fell afoul of Cromwell and his property was confiscated. It eventually was bought by the Jefferyes family in 1703. It is now in the hands of the Colthurst family due to the marriage of Louisa Jane Jefferyes to Sir George Colthurst in 1846.

This is called the Badger Caves. You can go in but only so far. The rumor has it that when Cromwell besieged the castle, he fired from above and broth the tower walls. Yet when he entered the castle, he found only two old caretakers. Everyone else was gone, along with the gold plate that they expected to find. The story goes that everyone escaped with the loot through the badger caves. 

There were supposedly three trails. One led to Blarney Lake, one led to Cork and the last led all the way to Kerry. This is what it looked like inside the dark cave.

We continued our tour by walking around the grounds first. It had stopped raining so we took advantage. The gardens were amazing. All kinds of flowers and trees. I thought this tree was particularly interesting the way it grew.

As we walked around the gardens we came upon this amazing house. It's called Blarney House. It was built in 1874 by Sir George Conway Colthurst. Unfortunately for a nosey person like myself, it's a private house. They open for tours sometimes but not while we were there. But boy wouldn't I love to go through that house!

Further along the property is a Lime Kiln. A what? It's a structure in which limestone was heated to a high temperature to produce quicklime. Quicklime was used as a raw material for a number of uses locally between 1750 and 1850. Who knew?

Continuing through the gardens we found this cute little house. It was quite lucky for us because, once again, it started to rain. So we stepped inside and took the opportunity to rest.

It was quite roomy inside. I'm not sure what this was built for but it was perfect for a little respite out of the weather. I'd say a rest out of the hot sun but we hadn't seen any of that since we've been here! Only rain and it was a perfect respite for that as well.

Continuing on, we came across Blarney Lake.  There are a couple of stories about the lake. It is rumored that this is where Cormac MacCarthy first discovered the Blarney Stone. The story goes like this: A witch from the rock close came into difficulties while out on the lake and Cormac saved her from drowning. As a reward, she told him of the location of a magical rock which, if kissed, would endow the gift of eloquence and forever cure Cormac's speech impediment, a stutter he struggled with.

The second story associated with the lake is that when the castle was besieged by Cromwell's men, MacCarthy's men fled through the badger caves and threw the gold plate into the lake to be recovered later, but it never was. A subsequent owner was said to have drained the lake in order to recover the plate but the endeavor was in vain. Cool, right?

This was the trail we followed around the grounds. It was incredible and beautiful and quite peaceful as we were one of the few people that took the opportunity to enjoy the grounds.

This is the stable yard which is where the horses and carriages were kept. There are old carriages on display and the the old carriage house is a cafe. It's a nice place to sit and regroup after walking the grounds. In a corner of the yard is the groom's house. This poor guy was on call 24/7. His job was to feed, groom and exercise the horses. In the event there was not coachman, he was on the hook to drive the coaches as well. 

Another look at Blarney Castle. So if we were here in peak season, we'd be in line at this point waiting to go inside. While there were a lot of people, some annoying, we were able to walk right in. The walls of the castle are 18 feet thick at the base to withstand any attempt to break through. The slitted windows on the upper portion of the castle would stop arrows and stones from penetrating inside. The battlements at the top allowed the defenders to pour boiling water, tar and stones down on the heads of the enemy at ground level. In the old days, the castle would have been covered in plaster and painted white.

This is the view of the grounds from what I would call the patio of the castle. We're still outside but we're near the door. Back in the day, the castle would have been surrounded by a defensive wall which would have enclosed an area of about 8 acres called a "bawn". This would have sheltered all the livestock and the people in times of danger. Also on the grounds is a poison garden. Hmmm....

This is the Earl's bedroom. Privacy was not something that was provided in any castle so this was something that this guy had his own room. Because it was so high up, he had the luxury of looking out that big window to keep an eye on things. That lady standing there thought she was the only one in the castle and took so long at all the stops that we eventually gave up and left before we moved any further than this. I should have just pushed past her. Because of this, we didn't get to see the rest of the castle.

This is the view of from that big window in the earl's room. The smaller window was offered a panoramic view so that he could keep an eye out for danger. He and his lady would have shared a canopy bed that would have helped with the draughts but that would have been the extent of any comfort. But what a view!

On our way back out, I caught a photo of the great room. Apparently, the MacCarthy's were great entertainers and this is where the party took place. I'm assuming there would have been a floor here covered with rushes, which would have been changed out by servants. The walls would have been hung with tapestries and portraits. At some point, someone had the great idea of putting the tapestries on the floor and, boom! discovered carpet. Where the people are standing below was the cellar, which was used primarily to store food and drink.

The Jefferyes bought the castle in 1703 and in 1739, built this mansion. It was four stories high with ranges of casement windows facing east and was a thriving and lively country house until it burned down in 1820. 

This is the lookout tower. This would have been part of the defense of the castle. Inside would have been a spiral staircase that would take you to the top.

I'm inside the lookout tower looking up at John on the outside.

More beautiful scenery around the castle.

As we walked back out toward the visitor center, a lady from the US stopped us and took our photo outside the castle from the kennel, sentry and dungeons. I would have happily climbed through the various doorways but John was not. This is where the sentrys stood to guard the castle. Beneath the castle, there is a labyrinth of underground passages. Sounds right up my alley! In some of the passageways are supposedly the chambers that would have been the prison for the castle. Creepy.

After the castle, we walked around the town a little. This is the Church of the Immaculate Conception. I think they were having a ceremony of some sort there. It was built in 1894 by the Mahony family who where the owners of the local woolen mill.

Main Street in Blarney Village as we wait for the bus to come pick us up.

The Blarney Woolen Mills were established in 1750 by Timothy Mahony. In 1823, the Mahony family moved the spinning and weaving operations to a water powered facility near Blarney Castle. In 1928, a 13-year old local named Christy Kelleher began working as an apprentice machinist at the mill. He would eventually become a supervisor of the day to day operations of the mill. In 1973, the mill ceased operations after 225 years of business. In 1975, Christy Kelleher bought the empty industrial complex and, inspired by the tourists visiting the castle, transformed the mill into a retail shop. Now, it's a whole experience: a store, a hotel and the Aran Sweater Experience.

We spent the whole day in Blarney Village and it was awesome. I would like to have walked around the town a little more but I loved the vibe. If I went back, I'd make sure to go up to all the floors in the castle and, who knows? Maybe I'd even kiss the Blarney Stone.