Kilmainham Gaol Museum Presents: The Lost Prisons of Dublin 8

This walking tour will explore the sites of four six former prisons in Dublin 8. These prisons include the original Newgate Gaol, Dublin's first prison that was located in one of the city gates and was notorious for the dangerous and unsanitary conditions in which prisoners were held. Dublin 8 was once also the location of Ireland's main debtors’ prison, the Four Courts Marshalsea, which occupied a site between Thomas St. and Bridgefoot St.

The racket court where gentlemen debtors passed their days still survives. It was also the scene of a bitter row between two of the prisoners in the early 1840s. The tour will explore the background to that disagreement and how a fatal duel was narrowly averted. Prior to 1777 the Four Courts Marshalsea was based in a building in Molesworth Court where the part of the Civic Offices now stands. Among the prisoners held there was the writer and publisher William Chetwood.

He was a significant figure on the London literay and theatrical scene in teh early 18th century and in 1713 he published 'A Poem on the Memorable Fall of Chloe's P—s Pot' which is attributed to Jonathan Swift. He continued his literary career while a prisoner in the Marshalsea in Dublin and it is listed as the place of publication for his 1756 biography of the playwright Ben Jonson.