Kilmainham Gaol

Lonely Planet review

One of Dublin's most sobering sights, Kilmainham Gaol oozes centuries of pain, oppression and suffering from its decrepit limestone hulk. The scene of countless emotional episodes along Ireland's rocky road to independence, the jail was home to many of the country's political heroes, martyrs and villains.

One of Dublin's most sobering sights, Kilmainham Gaol oozes centuries of pain, oppression and suffering from its decrepit limestone hulk. The scene of countless emotional episodes along Ireland's rocky road to independence, the jail was home to many of the country's political heroes, martyrs and villains.

Opened in 1796, Kilmainham Gaol saw thousands of prisoners pass through its corridors, including Robert Emmet and Charles Stewart Parnell. Later in its notorious history it was home to Ireland's future prime minister and president Eamon de Valera, who was the last person to be released when the jail closed for good in 1924.

The East Wing, modelled on London's Pentonville Prison, was the setting for several scenes in 'In the Name of the Father' starring Daniel Day Lewis'. If you've seen the film it's easy to recognise the metal catwalks surrounded by a light-filled vaulted room.

The panoptican design not only allowed guards full view of all the cells, it also brought the redeeming qualities of light and heaven, as the Victorians saw it, to the fallen and disgraced. The scratchings and graffiti on the cell walls are moving testimonies to the jail's hellish reputation.