Civil War era drawings discovered at Cork jail set to be preserved

HISTORIC IRA drawings on the walls of a Cork jail, discovered just two years ago, are set to be preserved following a battle by a local committee.

The etchings, found on the walls of the old Bridewell Jail, connected to the former Kanturk Courthouse, are a rare relic of the War of Independence.

The drawings were uncovered in 2021 when water damage in the historic prison caused old plasterwork to fall from the walls.

Until this point, drawings such as these from the Civil War era had not been found outside of Dublin’s Kilmainham Gaol.

Upon the discovery, the Kanturk Courthouse Restoration Project committee has been battling to preserve the drawings and messages created by IRA prisoners.

Members of Kanturk Community Council were joined on the committee by a former director of the National Museum and noted historians, Richard Wood, Deirdre Hunt, and Arthur Montgomery.

TD Micheal Moynihan, another member of the organisation, said the committee created to ensure the preservation hoped that the former jail could be handed over to public use and transformed into a museum.

Following campaigning from the Office of Public Works (OPW) and members of the committee, plans are now underway to preserve the rare drawings and to convert the old buildings into a museum and cultural arts centre.

The plans are expected to cost around €6m, with the addition of a remote working hub on the site also to be included in the project.

The drawings themselves include pictures of Arthur Griffith and Countess Markievicz, as well as a simple etching of Sean Moylan with the inscription ‘Up Sean Moylan’.

Moylan himself is believed to have spent time as a prisoner in the Bridewell Jail.

Many IRA prisoners wrote their names on the walls and these are still clearly visible today.

These include Denis Hickey, Main Street Charleville, Co Cork; Fred Healy, Glenflesk, Co Kerry; John Anderson, Midleton, Co Cork, and John Cronin, Coolinarne, Millstreet, Co Cork.

Unfortunately, despite intervention by the OPW, some of the artwork was lost due to the water damage caused by missing roof tiles.

The Kanturk Courthouse was originally built in 1825 and included 12 jail cells.

Sittings in the courthouse were discontinued in 2010 after court services were relocated to Mallow.