Sligo Gaol conservation a step closer

SLIGO GAOL’S place in the history of the Irish State as it emerged is to be preserved after the adoption by Sligo County Council of an ambitious conservation plan for the historic building.

In 1879 Michael Davitt attracted international headlines for the Land League from the prison when, with the help of Parnell, he turned his trial in Sligo courthouse into a legal farce.

In 1918,  Michael  Collins complained he could not sleep because of the hardness of the mattress during his brief stay there. In 1920,  100 IRA men broke into the prison in a successful bid to spring local officer commanding Frank Carty in one of the most celebrated jailbreaks of the era.

Despite its key role in the history of the nation through the Famine, Land War and Civil War, many people are unaware of the existence of the unique building, which opened in 1818. Now the council, which acquired the building after it closed in 1956, is determined to preserve it for the future and to develop a masterplan for that area of Sligo which historians hope will see the old jail retained as a living museum.

The conservation plan adopted by councillors in  December,  recommends international conservation plans be adopted in any future interventions. It calls for a comprehensive risk assessment and measures to protect archive material, buildings and artefacts.

The plan expresses regret that almost half of the original prison complex has been lost. After closure,  the female wing, treadmill, portions of cell blocks, infirmary and part of the front boundary wall were demolished to facilitate construction of a fire station by the county council.

Council heritage officer Siobhán Ryan said the emphasis now was on retaining the extensive buildings remaining. The complex is now a protected structure. “There is a feeling there that the walls could talk. It is very, very atmospheric,” she said.

The prison was built to a polygonal plan with the governor’s house at the centre. Hangings originally took place in public in front of the prison, but later in the yard.

The principal surviving buildings include cell blocks, the debtors’ prison, the three-story lunatics’ asylum and the two-storey governor’s residence.