Two Irish journalists have produced a video tour of Kilmainham Gaol – the prison where the Easter Rising leaders were held before they were executed.
The video was created by Frank McGrath and Jason Kennedy for the Irish Independent ahead of the centenary of the Rising.
The video starts in the Stone breakers yard of the gaol. This is where the Rising leaders were taken to be executed.
Conor Mulvagh, who is Lecturer in Irish History at UCD appears on camera to talk us through some of important aspects of the gaol and the Rising.
He said that the stone breakers yard: “became a central point for the legacy and commemoration of the 1916 Rising”.
Mulvagh explains that the draconian way in which the rebels were treated by the British was a driving force for change among Irish nationalists.
It went from being a ‘failed coup, to becoming an insurrection that had mobilising potential for Irish nationalism and republicanism’.
Mulvagh then talks about rebels such as Michael Collins and Eoin MacNeill. Collins went onto become a leader in the War of Independence.
Mulvagh said: “The photos of prisoners on these gangways (in the gaol) are in some ways a who’s who of who was to take prominence during the War of Independence.
“So not only the executed leaders find their final resting place here at the end of their republican journey, so too within Kilmainham Gaol do we see the emergence of new networks and new leadership for the Irish independence tradition going forward.”
At the end of the video Mulvagh summarises the significance of the gaol to such a vital period of Irish history.
Take a look at the video below.
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