Survey Data
Reg No
20863169
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social, Technical
Previous Name
Cork District Military Prison
Original Use
Prison/jail
In Use As
Prison/jail
Date
1845 - 1850
Coordinates
168277, 73107
Date Recorded
29/03/2011
Date Updated
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Description
Detached twenty-three-bay three-storey prison with three-bay central breakfront, built 1846, as military prison associated with the military barracks located to the south. Converted to use as a civil prison in 1971, with various subsequent additions. Roof hidden behind ashlar limestone parapet with intermittent pilasters. Squared rubble limestone walls with carved limestone cornice. Round-headed window openings to breakfront with limestone sills and dressed limestone voussoirs and reveals. Camber-headed openings with limestone sills and surrounds. Replacement windows throughout. Square-headed door opening to breakfront with limestone cornice supported on stone console brackets, block-and-start reveals and replacement timber double-leaf doors.
Appraisal
Cork Prison has been operating as a detention prison for more than 150 years. Built as a military prison associated with the British army barracks to the south, it was transferred to the ownership of the Free State Army in 1922, along with the barracks. In 1971 it was converted to a civil prison. Still in use today, it contains 138 cells. Despite much development in the surrounding site, the original prison building has retained its original form and, together with its associated walls and gatehouse, is a fine example of a nineteenth-century penal building. It was built to a design by Colonel Jebb, Royal Engineer and British Surveyor-General of convict prisons. It is a valuable and interesting part of Cork's social and military history.