Click on the image of the document to access a full PDF which you can either read online or download to your own computer. Please acknowledge Kilmainham Gaol Museum in any use of these documents.
Kilmainham Gaol Museum facilitates those carrying out historic research by allowing access to its reserve collection. Access to the reserve collection is by appointment only. To make an appointment, please contact us via the query form.
Scroll down for information on genealogical research at the Gaol.
Photocopied material relating to several men committed to Kilmainham Jail after the Young Ireland Rebellion in July 1848. According to the Superintendent of Police the men were suspected of 'Treasonable Practices'.
Adopted at the First Irish Volunteer Convention in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on Saturday 25 October 1914. It sets out the objects of the organisation, enrolment, scope and system of organisation, and the government of the Volunteers.
A handmade programme for the events held by the female prisoners on 24 April 1923 to mark the seventh anniversary of the 1916 Proclamation. The day included a requiem mass for the executed men, speeches by relatives of the dead leaders, and a concert and play in the evening.
The official Saorstát Éireann (Free State) closing order for Kilmainham Prison. Kilmainham Gaol was finally closed for good in 1929.
This PDF includes a 1936 block plan, and plans from 1946 for the basement, ground floor, first floor and second floor.
A souvenir pamphlet from a visit to Kilmainham Gaol organised by the 1916 Associated Easter Week Men. The Gaol had been officially closed since 1929.
Compiled by Lorcan Leonard, this report sets out the state of the Gaol in May 1960 when the Kilmainham Jail Restoration Society began work, and the progress of the restoration to date.
The prison registers for Kilmainham Gaol are held in the National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Registers are available for the periods 1797-1824 and 1830-1910, and can be consulted on microfilm or through the online genealogical website Find My Past.
The National Archives of Ireland also holds records of prisoners transported to Australia in the nineteenth century. This information can be accessed via a database on their website.
Kilmainham Gaol ceased to operate as a civilian prison in 1910. It was reopened at various times during the years 1916-1924 to accommodate the large numbers of political prisoners arrested during the Easter Rising 1916, the War of Independence 1919-21 and the Civil War 1922-23.
Unfortunately, prisoner registers for Kilmainham Gaol for this period have not survived. Kilmainham Gaol Museum has compiled lists of political prisoners for this period from various sources, but none of these lists are comprehensive.
If you are seeking information regarding a former political prisoner of Kilmainham Gaol, please contact us. Please include as much information as possible, including details of where the individual was from and their activities during the 1916-23 period.