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The Courthouse and Bridewell
Bailieborough Courthouse
was built in 1817 by Colonel William Young a director
of the East India company and landlord of the Bailieborough
Estate. At the rear a Bridewell was built in 1833 for
the use of the inhabitants of County Cavan. It contained
five cells and two yards, with separate day rooms and
yards for female prisoners.
According to Griffiths Valuation of 1856, the Annual
Valuation of rateable property was £7 – 15 – 0 and was
exempt from rates.
In 1817, Col. William Young arranged for the building
of the Courthouse & Bridewell in Bailieborough. It was
a plain building of three bays, two stories, it had
small paned windows with painted stucco and with dentil
course. The Bridewell was a holding place for the accused
to be kept until sentencing. It was an unusual situation
with the jailer and his wife living upstairs and the
prisoners in the cells downstairs. There was one cell
kept for women offenders so it appears that there were
less women offenders than men. For the upkeep of the
Bridewell Mr. Brady was caretaker.
The name Bridewell first applied to a royal palace located
near St. Bride’s or St. Bridges’ Well in London. The
Bridewell in London was given to the city by King Edward
V1 for use as a workhouse. Rebuilt in 1668 after the
great fire of London the Bridewell was used as a prison
form 1729. By the 19th century Irish Bridewells were
small local prisons designed to hold those charged with
offences until the courts could deal with their cases.
They also held convicted prisoners until their transfer
to county jails and those serving very short sentences.
The Irish Constabulary was established by Act of Parliament
in 1836 as an armed force whose members wore the uniform
of the Rifle Brigade with a cavalry division. Small
bodies of three to five men were stationed in towns
and villages throughout the country, their principle
duties being to preserve the peace, escort prisoners
and enforce government notices and proclamations. In
1843 the strength of the constabulary amounted to 9,043
of whom 304 were cavalry. There were particular problems
in law enforcements in pre-famine Ireland. This was
because Magistrates and Senior police officers were
perceived to be alien in political outlook and religion
to the mass of the people. Thus, as Dr. J. Anthony Gaughan
has point
“The law did not command people’s respect and they regard
it as something against which they had to match their
wits”.
The widespread crime in Ireland was also of course a
product of poverty and distress. The authorities punished
what today would be considered ‘petty offences’ with
severe prison terms or transportation. |
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The human misery
of the great famine of the 1840’s overwhelmed Irish
institutions, and the prisoners were no exception. In
desperation the starving and destitute deliberately
committed offences in order to be sent to gaol where
at least they would be given food and shelter.
The state of Irish prisons in the early 19th century
was extremely poor. The Inspector General stating that
the county gaols were ‘for the most part scenes of filth,
fraud and vice.’
The Bridewells were no exception, some being described
as ‘literally black holes or dungeons’ with ‘no registry
of inmates, on food or inspection.’
The prison act in 1826 closed a number of Bridewells
and introduced proper regulations:
‘Prisoners must undergo medical examination upon admission.
They must be obedient and respectful at all times. They
must not gamble, swear or smoke and so on .
The Prisoner’s Day
Outlined below is the routine of a county gaol, the
regime at Bailieborough Bridewell would have been similar
but slightly more relaxed.
6.00 a.m. - Prisoner’s day begins
(7.00 a.m. during the winter)
cleaning and other duties were performed until 9.00
a.m.
9.00 a.m. - Breakfast - 8 ounces of meal and 1 pint
of new milk.
The prisoners were exercised in the enclosed yards and
made to Perform work such as carpentry for men and needlework
for women to assist in the up keep of the Bridewell
then there was a period of relaxation for two hours
during which time all unnecessary speaking was to be
avoided. Work then continued until dinner.
4.00 p.m. - Dinner - 1 lb of bread and 1 pint of new
milk.
Then work continues until 6.00 p.m.
8.00 p.m. - Prisoners locked in their cells for the
night.
The day was regulated by the ringing of bells.
During the 1840’s the ideology which governed the prison
system became more rigorous, demanding that prisoners
be kept in their cells throughout their entire sentence
on the ground that this would make them docile, lonely
and amenable to religious instructions, training and
improvement.
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The Keeper
No Bridewell Keeper could be appointed without a satisfactory
certificate from the Board of Superintendence of the
county gaol. To obtain this he had to be able to write
sufficiently well to keep the register of prisoners
and the accounts. He had to understand the prison rules
and regulations and both he and his family must have
‘habits of cleanliness’ . to gain experience he was
required to work for a period as a turn key in the county
gaol.
Magistrates
Magistrates or Justices of the Peace were local notables
appointed by government on account of their political
reliability, wealth and status. In addition to Justices
of the Peace there were a smaller number of stipendiary
or resident magistrates in each county who presided
over the Court of Quarter Sessions. Prior to 1827 proceedings
were somewhat arbitrary and irregular, but an Act of
Parliament that year regulated magistrates’ conduct.
It required that there should be a Clerk of Petty Sessions
available to enter judgements in a register and ordained
that there should be a printed table of fees in each
courthouse. The act was designed to ensure that justice
was uniformly, speedily and cheaply administered.
The Courts
The Irish legal and judicial system was based upon that
of England. The Supreme Courts were the Court of Chancery
(presided over by the Lord Chancellor), the Court of
Exchequer (presided over by the Chief Baron of Exchequer),
the Court of King’s Bench and the Court of Common Pleas
(both presided over by Chief Justices). Together they
were known as the four courts and sat in Dublin in the
fine building, which still bears this name. Beneath
these courts were Circuit Courts as Assizes that were
held twice a year (spring and summer) in every county
presided over by two judges of the High Courts. For
the purpose of the Assizes Ireland was divided into
six districts: the Home Circuit, the Leinster Circuit,
the North-East Circuit , the North-West Circuit, the
Connaght Circuit and the Munster Circuit.
Next in the hierarchy were the courts of Quarter Sessions,
held four times a year in each county by the resident
magistrates. Towns and boroughs possessing royal charters
could also hold special courts both civil and criminal.
Finally there were the courts of Petty Sessions over
which magistrates presided which were held more frequently
and in a greater number of locations than the higher
courts in order to deal with committals, minor civil
and criminal cases, applications for licenses and similar
matters.
Procedure
The following matters were considered to be within the
jurisdiction of the Court of Petty Sessions: Disputes
between masters and servants and apprentices, trespass
of cattle, coinage of fences, burning land, preservation
of game, smuggling, sale of alcohol, certain injuries
to property and offences against a person. More serious
offences such as murder, theft of property and livestock
and the many agrarian outrages common in 19th century
Ireland were the responsibility of the Superior Courts.
Before an individual could be convicted at Petty Sessions
certain procedures had to be fulfilled. First an information
or complaint had to be drawn up, second a summons had
to be issued requiring the accused to appear before
the court on a specified date, third evidence had to
be presented to the court and supported by witnesses
and the accused had to be given the opportunity of defending
himself, fourth, once both sides had been heard the
magistrate would deliver his judgement, finally the
‘distraint’ (i.e. seizure of goods to a certain value)
or imprisonment.
Outlined below are some typical crimes and the fine
or sentence imposed
To give you an idea of the severity of the punishment
the average person’s wage before the famine was 6d a
day.
- Drunkenness 2 shillings
- Breaking gas lamps £5 or 2 months imprisonment
- Assault 1 shilling or 21 hours imprisonment
- Selling spirituous liquors without a licence £2
- Keeping fierce dogs without restraint 10 shillings
- Theft 3 months imprisonment
- Sheep stealing Transported for life
- Embezzlement 7 years transportation
- Stabbing and wounding Transported for life
- Riot 3 days imprisonment
- Robbery from a person 7 years transportation
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By this time transportation
to the British penal colonies mainly in Australia was
a common sentence. In these cases even once the sentence
had been completed the unfortunate convicts were not
allowed to return home and had to begin a new life in
Australia.
Two main cases
“The Nolagh Murders in 1898”
This case was known as the Nolagh murders because it
occurred at Nolagh cross on 2nd February 1898. the bodies
of Mrs. King, her mother and two children were discovered
by neighbours in their beds. The wife of Philip King
had been residing in the house of her mother when the
incident occurred. The skulls of the tow adults had
been battered inwards, and the babyhad been smothered
by the mother during the struggle. The older daughter
died due to exposure and starvation. The obvious suspect
was the father Philip King. He was arrested and held
in the Bridewell in Bailieborough. He was then taken
to a higher court in Dundalk and finally taken and hanged
in Belfast on January 13th 1899 almost twelve months
later.
“The horrid murder of Mrs Hinds, by the Ribbon men”
Took place in 1851, trial took place in Bailieborough
during a quarter session where eight men, John Reilly,
Patrick Markey, John McAllen, Andrew and Hugh Martin,
Bernard Callaghan, Bernard Neil and a man called Nelson.
The Barrister addressed the prisoners commenting on
the enormity of the offence, which they were convicted
of and deploring the fact that these men of respectable
standing in society should be placed in this terrible
position by secret societies which continue to be the
bane and curse of this unfortunate country. Reilly,
Markey, McAllen and Andrew Martin were each sentenced
to 10 years transportation to Australia and Hugh martin
to two years imprisonment and hard labour.
Bailieborough Bridewell probably assisted the authorities
35 years after 1798 had occurred, in mopping up sympathisers
of the revolution and arranging their transport to Australia.
The building was closed on 31st December 1900
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