Grace Giffords Cell, Kilmainham Jail, Dublin

In 1916 there occured the last great rebellion in Ireland against British rule. Although it initially appeared to fail and was greatly unpopular among the population in general the authorities made the supreme mistake of executing the leaders. Public opinion swung against the British and by 1919 the writing was on the wall. In the ensuing war of Independence the Crown was forced to offer a treaty, the acceptance of which with its clause of retention of the 6 counties of Northern Ireland caused an immediate Civil War. To a greater or lesser extent this matter has been a festering sore right up to today.

Today I visited Kilmainham Jail with my friend Eamonn. It started out as a trip to let him see the exhibition I saw on Sunday but we took in lots during the day and I'm only sitting down now at 9:46pm. In Kilmainham the rebel leaders were held prior to their execution. One of these was Joseph Plunkett who married Grace Gifford in the prison chapel just 5 hours before he faced the firing squad, leaving Grace a widow who never knew what married life was like.

As it turned out Grace ended up in the same prison herself in 1923 when she was on the anti treaty side in the Civil War... the losing side as it happened. While in prison she took to decorating her cell and peeping in through the warders spy hole as I did today, the visitor can see her handiwork preserved there to this very day.

Here endeth the history lesson. Now to see if I can get some commenting done before I collapse into sleep.