Designed by Charles Lanyon, who based his plans on London's Pentonville prison, Crumlin Road Gaol was a working jail and prison from 1846 to 1996. These days the somber Victorian buildings can be explored on self-guided tours, during which holograms of actors playing guards and inmates tell stories from different times in the jail's history. Allow up to 90 minutes for the visit.
Belfast's Notorious Jail
The visit includes an eerie descent into the tunnel beneath Crumlin Rd, built in 1850 to convey prisoners from the courthouse across the street, and continues through to the echoing halls of the Gaol Circle and C-Wing. Here the cramped cells are set up to convey the stories of prisoners from different eras in the jail's history, including a young woman held in 1846, a child jailed during the Victorian era, and political prisoners who served time in the Crum during the 1970s and 1980s. The most chilling of all is the execution chamber; the jail was the scene of the executions of 17 men between 1854 and 1961.
Former Inmates
During your tour you'll hear about historical figures detained in the Crum over the years. In 1914 suffragettes Dorothy Evans and Madge Muir were taken to the Crum for possession of explosives after a series of arson attacks. In 1924 Éamon de Valera, then leader of Sinn Féin, was imprisoned for illegally entering Northern Ireland; he was held in solitary confinement for a month. And in 1966, Ian Paisley served time in the Crum for unlawful assembly; his supporters rioted outside in protest.
