Cork County Gaol

The main walls and gate entrance of the prison are today incorporated in the perimeter of University College Cork.

During the first half of the nineteenth century the County Gaol also served as a temporary prison for convicts who had been sentenced to be transported to Australia.

[1] On 25 September 1922, a Republican prisoner, volunteer Patrick Mangan (a veteran of the War of Independence from Lismore), was shot by a sentry as he tried to escape from Cork County Gaol.

[6] At 08:00 on 13 March 1923, the Free State Government executed a Republican prisoner named William Healy (born in Lackabawn, Donoughmore in 1900) at Cork County Gaol.

On the evening before he faced the firing squad he wrote to his father telling him, "If I had told on one of the boys, I would not be executed but, as you know, I would not have it said that there was a spy in our family, because as you know I was out for a Republic and I sincerely hope it will be got some day,"[7][8] Some of those executed in Cork County Gaol are buried in the former exercise yard and their graves are marked by a carved stone memorial erected by their former comrades (it was unveiled in 1948).

[1] On 3 August 1940 John Joe Kavanagh attempted to dig a tunnel into the prison so his IRA comrades inside could escape.

[1] UCC demolished the remaining buildings except for the Greek Revival facade and parts of the boundary wall (the chapel was kept for a while for use by the Department of Biochemistry).