What is recorded here
On top of a broad hill within Roscommon town. A tower of two storeys but of unknown function is marked here on a map of 1736 by Francis Plunket (copy in Roscommon County Museum). The jail was reputedly designed by Richard Cassels, was built by 1745, and had the distinction of employing a hangwoman, lady Betty. It closed as a jail c. 1819 when the new jail (RO039-043003-) was built. From 1820 until 1833 it became an asylum (Weld 1832, 423-5). Thereafter it served as a market house, but by 1918 it had been converted into a dwelling called Tudor House. In 1985 most of the cell block, which had three storeys, was demolished, and only the administrative block of four storeys attached to its S survives. Excavation (97E0419) revealed no evidence of an earlier structure but the outline of the cell block (ext. dims c. 14m N-S; 10.5m E-W) with 8 cells (dims c. 2.5m x 2.5m) in all, four on either side of a N-S corridor (Wth 1.3m) was uncovered. There was a latrine chute at N with a drain running off to the NW. (Higgins 1998a)
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 24 August 2010
Add the human story, a picture, a first-hand message or a missing place.
Earn 5 points after the picture is checked and accepted.
Add a pictureAdd its storyTalk or ask a questionAdd a new placeThe monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
Conversation about this place
Questions and messages sit beneath the source record. They are checked before appearing.
No questions or messages yet.
Ask a question or join the conversation