This Thursday, 18th October, Capital D has a very special programme gaining access to cells in Kilmainham Gaol which are not normally open to the public. The motifs, jottings and artwork on the cell walls have never been filmed for television before. Christopher McKevitt went along to Kilmainham to take a look at the extraordinary artwork on the walls which historians are desperate to save.
Kilmainham Gaol is a busy museum but it also has rows of cells that have not been re-furbished. Many of these cells were occupied by women revolutionaries – particularly during the Civil War, and they contain thousands of jottings, motifs and artwork, drawn by the women as they whiled away the long, boring hours of their confinement.
Niamh O’Sullivan, historian and author of “Every Dark Hour – A History of Kilmainham Jail”, makes an impassioned plea for some of this historical work to be preserved, because it is in danger of crumbling away: “I would love funding to be found to bring in the latest experts. There might be new techniques” she says, as she shows a particularly delicate piece of writing in thin, black pencil which is on very thin plaster in a ground floor cell.
The passage on the wall was written by Diarmuid O’Sullivan, when he was just 17 as he stood in that cell, charged with high treason and drew while he was condemned to death. His sentence was subsequently commuted.
Sinead McCoole, another historian and author of “No Ordinary Women – Irish Female Activists in the Revolutionary Years 1900-1923”, describes Brigid O’Mullane – or Bridie as she was known to her fellow-inmates. Bridie was central to Cumann na mBan and travelled the country recruiting members. She had been in prison before and knew the monotony of it. She spent hours drawing symbols of the Republican movement, Celtic motifs and also a quote from Terence McSweeney. She was a woman deeply committed to living out the ideals of 1916 – the quest for an Irish Republic and equal rights for men and women.
Another prisoner picked a more mundane, but endlessly changing subject for her grafitti: Cecilia Saunders-Gallagher, kept daily records of the weather on her cell wall!
Also on Thursday’s programme, Capital D features a commuting race between a Luas passenger, a motorist and a cyclist. The three plucky participants are racing to find out what is the quickest way to commute between Tallaght and An Lar with are some very interesting results!
Capital D also pays a visit to the Capoeira Festival. It is the 6th International Festival of this Afro-Brazilian dance form which mixes martial arts with music. Participants form a roda (circle) and take turns playing instruments, singing, and sparring in pairs in the centre of the circle.
Capital D then goes to Croke Park to see the historic building through the eyes of its architect. The visit is in advance of this weekend’s Open House initiative when some 80 buildings, not usually open to the public will be open for tours and talks.
Finally, Dublin A-Z features The Royal Hospital in Kilmainham with its colourful history and current grandeur