Kilmainham Gaol opened in 1796 as the new County Gaol for Dublin. It closed its doors in 1924. Today the building symbolises the tradition of militant and constitutional nationalism from the rebellion of 1798 to the Irish Civil War of 1922-23. Public hangings took place at the front of the prison. However, from the 1820s onward very few hangings, public or private, took place at Kilmainham.
As we reflect on this place of history we listen to our Bandwagon musicians sing ‘Grace’, a sweet sounding Irish ballad written by Frank and Sean O’Meara in 1985 and based on the story of Grace Clifford who married Joseph Plunkett who was executed in Kilmainham Gaol for taking part in the 1916 rising.