Prison in Unknown Townland

Clarke mentions the former existence of a prison in a New Hall in 1576 (2002, 26). In 1576 the Dublin Assembly Roll recorded that 'Henrie Kynge shall have in chardge the keeping of such wares as shall com into the new hall, and that John Fitzsymons shall have the keping and chardge of all suche prisoners as shalbe comytted therunto' (CARD Vol. 2, 112). May be a duplicate record with the Black Dog Prison (DU018-020410-) which was located on Bridge Street Upper. Alternatively this reference may relate to the prison or his Majesty's Gaol in the New gate on Cornmarket Street. In 1730 the Black Dog Gaol which was a Debtors Prison and his Majesty's Gaol at the New Gate were described as follows; 'the Office of Keepers of his Majesty's Gaol of Newgate, and that of Sheriffs Marshal of the City of Dublin, have generally been executed by one Person, and that John Hawkins has enjoy'd those two Offices for eight Years last past, having been by Act of Assembly, dated the 9th Day of May, 1721, appointed Keeper of the Gaol of Newgate, in the Room of one Isaac Ashenhurst, who in the said Act is charged with letting Numbers of Prisoners escape. However, the said Hawkins was obliged to give him, the said Isaac, the Sum of £245. That the City of Dublin pay a Salary of £10. per Ann. to the said Keeper of Newgate. That the said Hawkins has been annually appointed Sheriffs-Marshal of the City of Dublin, since he has been Keeper of Newgate, and that he generally makes the Sub-Sheriff a Present of Twenty Pounds, or Twenty Guineas, and makes the House call'd the Black-Dog his Gaol'(Anon. 1730, 98). According to Gilbert (1854, 257-66); 'From the latter part of the fifteenth century the New-gate was used as the town prison of Dublin, Richard III. having, in 1485, constituted the Mayor and Recorder of Dublin Justices of Oyer, Terminer, and gaol delivery; and authorized the Mayor and Sheriffs to hold a gaol in any part of the city, for the safe keeping of malefactors and felons'. The Newgate is described, towards the close of the sixteenth century, as having "twoe Towres, and every Towre is three heightes, with twoe smale towrettes in the tope, and the gatte howse stands betwixt bothe the saide towres, the loer storie of every Towre is vawted, and the other twoe stories lofted; every towre is twelve foote sqware within the wall, and the wall fyve foote thicke, and every rowme twoe lowpes. The Gatte Howse is forty foote one waye and fifteen foote another waye, and the height of boethe the said Towres from the pavement to the leads is forty foote, besydes the garettes, and there is a percwlles for the same gatte." In the city wall, close to the southern side of the Newgate, was a building called the "Watch Tower," where a sentry usually stood to guard the prisoners confined in the gaol. In the course of some repairs executed during the Protectorate, the two towers of Newgate, next to the city, were removed, the other two, on the western side, being allowed to remain. Between Newgate and Gormond's-gate, on the northern side, stood a square tower, described as follows in the reign of Elizabeth : "From the North Towre of the Neue Gatte to the Towre in Mr. Nicholas Fitzsimons pocession is one hundred and eighty foote distant, the wall four foote thicke and twenty-twoe foote hie, with a buttris withowte as before, and no rampier within, but howses close joyninge to the wall within. The said Towre in Mr. Fitzsimons pocession is a sqware Towre, fowre stories hie, with three loftes and no vawte, twoe lowps in the loer storie, three lowps in the seconde storie, fower lowps in the third storie, and fowre lowps in the fowrthe storie; the Towre thirty-two foote hie, sixteene foote sqware, and three foote thicke." In the early part of the seventeenth century this tower was styled "Browne's Castle," from its proprietor, Richard Browne, who kept his mayoralty in 1614, 1615, and 1620, in this building, in a back room of which the proscribed Roman Catholic Priests used to celebrate Mass privately in the reign of James I. Browne's Castle was subsequently converted into an inn, which acquired the name of the "Black Dog", from the sign of a Talbot or hound there suspended. Its proprietor, named Barton, was committed by the House of Lords, in 1661, for having declared in conversation that "the Earl of Drogheda was a cheating knave, and that he thought all the Lords in Ireland were no better;" and early in the eighteenth century the "Black Dog" was used as the Marshalsea prison of the Sheriff of the city of Dublin. Assessments were made in 1686 for enlarging Newgate; in 1687, for "finishing the building and repairing of Newgate;" in 1689, for mending the roof of old Newgate; and in 1694, for repairing and strengthening the gaol. Among the prisoners in Newgate in the last century was the Rev. Thomas Emlyn, who, having been found guilty in 1704 of publishing a treatise in advocacy of the doctrine of the Unitarians, was sentenced to pay a fine of £1000, and to undergo a year's imprisonment. For three months he remained a prisoner in the Sheriff's house, whence he was suddenly hurried to Newgate, and placed among the felons in a close room containing six beds; and after having continued there for about five weeks, he procured his removal to the Marshalsea. The number of constables and sheriffs' bailiffs in Dublin in 1729 being found to amount to two thousand, the Lords Justices and Privy Council ordered the several churchwardens to return the names of the constables in their respective parishes; and, after a review upon Oxmantown-green, reduced them considerably, allowing four to every justice of the peace, twenty to the Lord Mayor, six to the City Marshal for the service of his Marshalsea, twelve to the Gaoler of Newgate, and three to the Master of the House of Correction, all to be persons of good behaviour and Protestants, and to have their names and places of abode constantly posted at the Tholsel. Ashenhurst Isaack, gaoler of Newgate, was discharged from his situation in 1721, on a charge of having permitted a number of prisoners to escape; notwithstanding which, he received £245 for his goodwill of the office from John Hawkins, who also paid the Mayor and Sheriffs £100, as a gratuity for having secured him the appointment. Hawkins had originally been an attorney's clerk, subsequently practised as a bailiff, and was appointed Keeper of the House of Correction, whence he was transferred to the Gaolership of Newgate, which, under the management of him and his wife, became the scene of most flagrant abuses. Persons committed by the Judges of the King's Bench, the Lord Mayor, or Justices of the Peace for the city, were lodged in Newgate, where, by the collusion of the gaoler with the constables, they were frequently detained for many days without a committal. From these, 4d. per night was exacted for not being confined in the felons' room, and 1s. 4d. for a "penny pot;" those who refused being stripped of their clothes by the common executioner, beaten, and, in some cases, chained. The management of this department of the establishment was committed to Isaac Bullard, the under-keeper, who exacted his fees in a most merciless manner. When the prisoners' money was exhausted, they were stripped and turned into the felons' room, the stench of which was insupportable; and into which persons in violent fevers were known to have been thrown, stripped quite naked, because they could not pay eight pence for a night's lodging elsewhere. In 1729 the prisoners in Newgate numbered one hundred and sixty: in the felons' room a multitude of malefactors were to be seen lying naked upon the ground, groaning with cold and hunger, and many died there from absolute want, being frequently left without food for several days. About 1750 Newgate was improved and altered, and a commodious foot-path laid out on its southern side. In 1767 it was found to be in a very bad condition, the walls being ruinous, the roof de