ABOUT KILMAINHAM GAOL

Kilmainham Gaol

Kilmainham Gaol opened in 1796 as the new County Gaol for Dublin. While most of the prisoners were common criminals, it also held political prisoners involved in Ireland’s struggle for independence.

Included amongst those held here were Robert Emmet, Anne Devlin, the Fenians, Charles Stewart Parnell, Countess Markievicz and the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, 14 of whom were executed by firing squad in the Stonebreaker’s yard.

The Gaol was closed in 1924 but was preserved as a national monument in the 1960s and restored by the Kilmainham Gaol Restoration Committee. It was handed over to the State in 1986 and today is run by the Office of Public Works.

Spelling: Gaol vs Jail

I decided to check online about the spelling gaol/jail and found the following: "If you were writing for an American audience in 1815, or a British audience before 1935, you could get away with using gaol. Nowadays, however, jail is the accepted form in both of these language communities."