Wicklow Gaol

Wicklow · Ireland · Prison

In the prison once nicknamed "the gates of hell", footsteps, slamming cell doors and the babble of children can still be heard from inmates who were never set free.

Wicklow Gaol opened in 1702 and quickly earned a reputation as one of Ireland's cruellest prisons — rebels from the 1798 rising, starving thieves of the famine years and convicts bound for the penal colonies of Australia were crammed into its damp cells. Conditions were so vile that locals called it the gates of hell. Today visitors and staff report footsteps in empty corridors, doors slamming on the upper landing and the figure of a woman drifting between the cells. The spirit of a warder known as Mattie is said to still keep watch on the staircase, and in certain cells visitors have felt small children's hands clutching at them.

FAQ

Where is Wicklow Gaol located?

Wicklow Gaol is in Wicklow, Ireland.

Image: 瑞丽江的河水 / CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons