The Punishment Block is the only purpose-built cell block in the Fort. It was built in response to the murder of Warder William Reddy in 1856.
Work began in 1858 using local limestone with military and convict labour, and it was opened in 1860.
It consisted of twenty-eight solitary confinement cells and housed the ‘Penal Class’, considered the most dangerous prisoners. They were heavily chained and clothed in black from head to toe, with a veil hiding all but their eyes.
Conditions inside the block were the harshest inside the prison. At first, the cells were furnished with only a stool and convicts slept on the floor. Prisoner descriptions of medieval conditions in a Victorian prison outraged many. There were several suicide attempts and the block was the main reason that Spike Island was described as “Hell on earth” by the penal classes. A sentence to Spike Island was the worst time any offender could do, and this was largely attributable to the Punishment block.
During the convict era 1847-1883, it housed political prisoners who were guilty of ‘treason against the Crown’.
Today, visitors can see the Guard room and learn how archaeologists worked on the site. The Dark Cells can be explored by torchlight, while the modern solitary cells are also on view which were in use right up until 2004. The cells of Irish nationalists Patrick Tierney and John Mitchel are both recreated, and the upstairs rooms of the block contain an art exhibition of prisoners artwork created in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
CHILDREN’S PRISON:
Before Victorian times there was no distinction between age groups when it came to crime and punishment, but during the 1850s when Spike Island’s prison population had swollen to the largest in the world, people began to discuss the need for prisoner reform rather than punishment.
Conditions would slowly improve for child convicts and by the time Spike Island’s 19th Century prison was built it was decided to at least separate the adults from the children. But a sentence on Spike Island was still very hard for the 100 children who were held in the childrens dormitory. Long chains were hung from the ceiling and they supported several hammocks in which the children would sleep, having to scamper up the chains to their designated bunk.
Sadly not all children made it off the island with many succumbing to the difficult conditions. A good many would have arrived already weak from the famine conditions which had gripped Ireland in the late 1840s.
The building used to house the boys became the shell store for the fort, used to protect the ammunition from enemy shells. Today the building houses a re-creation of the cells identical to those on a convict vessel. These convict ships were moored in Cork harbour and transported prisoners from Ireland to overseas. There are also video installations telling the stories of three generations of Spike Island prisoners seperated by 3 centuries. Next to this is our John Mitchel room which tells the story of the nationalist after whom the fort is named.
Our social history rooms have many interviews with the former residents of the island and the adjoining Cork harbour room has old maps from the harbour and an interactive audio display where you can steer a ship into Cork Harbour and use the cannons on Spike Island to defend the harbour!
This fascinating building with its tragic past and modern interpretation is not to be missed on a visit to Spike Island.
A silver-plated chalice and paten were used in the convict chapel on Spike Island between 1848 and 1883. It was used at the weekly mass on the island and it served the most notorious murders and brigands as well as the forts military men and prison officers. Religion gave spiritual relief to the unfortunate convicts and was seen as a very important part of their rehabilitation journey.
The beautiful chalice is emblazoned with the Spike Island name and uniquely has the words ‘Convict Church 1848’ engraved on it, a rare distinction. Both items were generously donated to the Spike Island museum by the Irish Prison Service in 2017 and are now on display in the Punishment Block on Spike Island.
About Seán Hanrahan
About Backwater Artists Group
About Spike Island
Captain Patrick White was a former carpenter who became active in the Irish War of Independence. Following arrest, he was sent to Spike Island on the 12th of April 1921, from Cork Male Gaol. White was in his mid-thirties and a captain in the Meelick Company of the East Clare Brigade of the IRA, having been involved with the Irish Volunteers since 1914. He was among a group attempting to meet the gun-running ship the Aud in 1916, only to hear of its capture and later sinking close to Spike Island. It was after participating in an attack on Crown Forces at Cartloe, Clare, in which two RIC officers were killed, that White was apprehended, along with his friend Thomas Ringrose. Both men suffered the trauma of being used as human shields on British convoys, to prevent their fellow IRA members from attacking the vehicles for fear of injuring them. It was a relief to both rebels to be taken off the mainland to Spike, White reportedly saying to his friend Ringrose ‘We are safe now’.
White’s body was taken to the A block, where his countrymen held a vigil guard of honour overnight, not leaving him alone for a second. Hut one, A block, Spike Island, was a place of pain and suffering that night, as the soldiers of Ireland stood over their fallen friend, distraught and mute in disbelief. The following morning at 8.30am the cold body of Patrick White was lifted to the prison chapel, where a mass was held in solemn silence. When it ended his friends lifted the body back to hut one where it remained for two more days, while arrangements were made. On June 03rd, three days after the shooting, the body of Patrick White, now in a simple timber coffin, was brought once again to the prison chapel for a requiem Mass, before being carried by his fellow prisoners from the chapel towards the pier. Every single one of the prisoners and internees well enough to be present were there, lining the parade ground in tribute as the coffin passed. A select few of his fellow internees were permitted to carry his coffin beneath the forts entrance, out beyond the walls of the prison that confined him to catch sight of the mainland he was deprived of. An Ireland he had fought to free. On arrival to the pier they loaded his coffin on to a waiting ship, and turned to march back to captivity, looking over their shoulders as Patrick White, friend and fellow Republican, was taken on his last journey. His body was transported to Cobh where it was sent by train to his hometown of Meelick, County Clare, to be buried by his family. They might have feared, but could never have foreseen, that the next time they saw their relation following his arrest, would be at his burial.
Mitchel Hall was completed in 1851 by the convict and civilian labour and the wider ‘C Block’ as it was known housed convicts sent from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin. The central hall was used as an Anglican chapel until the prisoners left in the late 1800s. This attractive building with its ornate facade saw its central hall used for dances by the island residents on Friday evenings, be they the families of soldiers or prison officers. Former residents tell stories of great excitement leading up to the dances during the Irish army period, from 1938 to 1985, when dresses would be ordered from Selfridges in London for the big event. The British servicemen held coronation balls to celebrate the arrival of new monarchs. It has seen marriages and many other events celebrated down the years.
Today the block houses temporary art exhibitions and holds concerts in its former Anglican church, while the adjoining rooms hold an auditorium and a Spike Island social history exhibition. The ground floor ‘Independence’ exhibition on the north side of the building tells the story of the path to Irish freedom from 1914 to 1921. There are also rooms dedicated to the Irish Army, Naval Service and Air Corps as well as our Little Nellie exhibition.
Range: 1,760 yards (1,600 metres)
The Battery Observation Post on Spike Island was the Fire Control Centre for the two 6-inch guns on the island. It was where the essential information of an attacking ship was gathered and processed. This included the ship’s position, range, speed and direction of travel. This data was converted into an elevation and direction for the aiming of the guns together with the correct charge. The charge provided the explosive power to ensure the projectile reached its target. The guns could operate independently when the target was in view and within range of the gun’s auto-sight. The underground Battery Observation Post on No. 3 Bastion is open to visitors.
Calibre: 3.3 inch (83.8mm)
Calibre: 4.7-inch (120 mm)
Calibre: 3 inch (76.2mm)
Manufacturer: Siemens, London, England
Calibre 1.6 inch (40mm)
Calibre 1.6 inch (40mm)
Manufacturer: Leyland Motors, England from 1939 -1945
Calibre: 3-inch (76.2mm)
Calibre: 3.45-inch (87.6 mm)
Manufacturer: Societe Nouvelle des Establisséménts, Brandt, Paris.
Manufacturer: Bofors, Sweden
Calibre: 1.6 inch (40mm)
Proving Mortar
Manufacturer: Alvis, Coventry, England
AML-90 was designed for carrying out rearguard duties and substituting for the heavier tanks and armoured fighting vehicles deployed in a more linear fashion at the front. Its major feature was its DEFA low-pressure 90 mm rifled gun, which permitted the anti-tank and reconnaissance elements. It was specifically designed for vehicles weighing under ten tonnes in mind, and the successful mating of such a large calibre weapon on the five-tonne AML chassis was then considered a major engineering achievement. This made an AML-90 exceptionally well-armed in proportion to its weight, and offered the advantage of easier recoil loads over conventional tank cannon.
The 6-inch guns entered British service at the start of the 20th Century and saw use in naval, coastal and land artillery roles. Three of these guns were located on Spike Island from circa 1902. Two were mounted operationally in open emplacements on Number 3 Bastion and the third for training purposes in the Drill Shed. In 1938, the Irish Army’s Coastal Defence Artillery took over Spike Island’s 6” guns. In 1943 the two guns were relocated to their present underground emplacements under Numbers 2 and 4 Bastions. Spike Island’s 6” guns were manned continuously throughout the ‘Emergency’ period.
It was a night like any other in August 1985 in the then island prison on Spike Island. The prisoners had returned to their dorms for the night, and all was calm. But an argument quickly escalated, and suddenly the prisoners were escaping from their dorms in numbers. A major riot was underway, and the prison would never be the same again.
The prisoners now had full control of the island, having broken out of the fort. But the nature of the island prison was proving effective, and they did not attempt to swim the cold and dangerous waters in Cork harbour. Instead, they broke back into the fort, hot-wiring a JCB digger and blocking up its entrance. Buildings were set on fire, including their own accommodation block and the records room.
The riot continued for hours before the prisoners climbed on top of the fort ‘Mitchel hall’, where they remained for most of the next day. This allowed the prison officers to return with reinforcements. The army also arrived on the island with an armed unit, but they were wisely turned away, as the situation was de-escalating and did not need further provocation.
In 1848 he was the first person to be convicted of sedition under the ‘Treason Felony Act’, a sentence created with him in mind. He was sentenced to fourteen years transportation and at the time Bermuda in the Caribbean was one of the main destinations. Following his conviction in Dublin on the 27th of May 1848, Mitchel was transferred under military escort to Spike Island on H.M.S Scourge, where he was incarcerated for three days, and on to Bermuda and eventually Australia in 1850. During his journey, he began to write his famous ‘Jail Journal; or ‘Five Years in British Prisons’, his diary of his experiences from Dublin and on Spike Island until his arrival in New York on the 29th of November 1853.
His journal was first published in book form in New York in 1854. The book was highly influential at the time as many readers were shocked to hear of the ‘dark age’ conditions in which some prisoners were still being held on Spike Island, despite some efforts at reform in other prisons within the Victorian penal system. There was a loud call for reform which started right here on Spike Island and would be exported to the world, called the ‘Spike Island system’. But the books biggest impact came in its contribution to the cause of Irish nationalism. The style of Mitchel’s prose was well received by the influential higher classes and it prompted many to reconsider their stance on the impact of the Empire and the just cause of national sovereignty and freedom. The Jail Journal has been described by the Oxford Dictionary of Biography as one of the ‘classics of Irish revolutionary writing’ and by others as ‘the manual of Irish nationalist philosophy’. Though it was many decades later that Ireland finallly won its freedom, several members of the 1916 generation cited Mitchel as their inspiration.
It has rightly been pointed out by modern historians that Mitchel besmirched his name by being an advocate of the slave trade in America’s southern states. He supported the Confederates in the American Civil War, and two of his sons died fighting against the Union. His support was at odds with his ardent belief in the right of Irish people to assert their freedoms, and shows the often complicated status of historical figures. While abhorring his support of the Confederate states and the act of slavery, his contribution to the cause of eventual Irish freedom is well established.