It is history, much of it difficult and disturbing, as palpable physical presence. More recent times have seen a British sovereign military presence up to 1938 as part of the Treaty Ports settlement (Churchill described Spike Island as “the sentinel tower of the approaches to Western Europe”) subsequent use by the Irish Army and Navy conversion to a notorious civilian prison in 1985, mostly for young men convicted of minor offences such as joyriding, which led to a riot that destroyed many buildings and, finally, modern tourist facility. We learnt about the 6th-century monastic settlement, Cromwellian campaigns, 18th-century smugglers, British military fortification, the infamous convict depot, and Irish republicans incarcerated following the Easter Rising and during the War of Independence. Most of all, though, Spike Island stands as a fascinating microcosm of Irish history over the past 1,500 years.
Nationalists, Fenians, rebels and revolutionaries were also part of the prison population in 1921, during the War of Independence, more than 600 republicans were held on the island – a few even escaped. Many boys, and adult men, were sent to Spike as a direct consequence of the Great Famine of 1845-49, often for such petty crimes as vagrancy and stealing bread or chickens. There is evidence that at least 1,200 men died on the island.Ī children’s prison held up to 100 young offenders aged 12 to 16. “The prisoners are like a menagerie of wild animals that snarl and fight in defiance of their keepers,” wrote prison chaplain Charles Bernard Gibson in 1863. Prisoners not held in solitary confinement were crammed 12 to a cell overcrowding, malnutrition and poor sanitation meant fatal diseases and mental illness were rife. “That’s why it quickly became known as ‘Ireland’s Hell’ and ‘Hell on Earth’.”
“In the mid-19th century, Spike was not only the largest prison in the world, with 2,300 inmates, but also a place of severe punishment – of hard labour, strict discipline and religious instruction,” said John Flynn, Spike Island’s lead tour guide. Then there’s the fascinating, if dark, history. For one thing, there is a lot to see on the island, from six-inch guns secreted away at the end of deep bastion tunnels, to the imposing central parade ground, an artillery “gun park”, striking rampart outlooks south to the mouth of the harbour, and modern cells that echo and clank like something out of 70s sitcom Porridge. Last year, at the World Travel Awards, for example, Spike Island was named “Europe’s Leading Tourist Attraction” (somewhat remarkably ahead of such competitors as the Acropolis, La Sagrada Familia and Buckingham Palace). It is the vivid combination of a penal history to rival Alcatraz (the prison at Spike Island is actually said to be 10 times larger in size) and a long political history to match Robben Island (there is evidence that Cromwell’s troops held Royalist prisoners on Spike as early as the 1650s) – and its reopening as a visitor attraction in the summer of 2016 – that has sparked renewed interest in the place and its violent history.
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