Four Courts Marshalsea
Former Marshalsea used as tenements in 1969
LocationMarshalsea Lane (previously Werburgh Street and Molesworth Court)
Coordinates53°20′42″N 6°16′56″W / 53.344923°N 6.282325°W / 53.344923; -6.282325
Statusdefunct
Security classremand and debtors
Closed1874
Managed byDublin Castle administration
DirectorConstable of Dublin Castle (from 1546)
Notable prisoners
Daniel O'Carroll[1] George Francis Train[2]

The Four Courts Marshalsea was a prison in Dublin, Ireland until 1874. The keeper of the prison was the Marshal of the Four Courts, a role filled after 1546 by the Constable of Dublin Castle.[3]

Name

Other debtor's prisons in Dublin which shared the name were the City Marshalsea, and the Marshalseas of Saint Sepulchre (abolished 1856[4]) and of Thomas Court and Donore (abolished 1826[5]).

The original Marshalsea prison from which these were named, was built in Southwark south of the City of London, for prisoners from the Marshalsea Court presided over by the Knight Marshal.[6]

Buildings

In 1580 the Four Courts Marshalsea was built on Werburgh Street.[3]

By 1750 it was in Molesworth Court on the site of the current Dublin Civic offices (between Fishamble Street and Winetavern Street), which was abandoned in 1777 in disrepair.[7] This location was close to the four courts which were at that time located adjacent to Christchurch Cathedral off Skinners Row and St Michael's Hill.[8]

1775 building

The final building was in Marshalsea Lane (no longer extant) off Marshal Lane (now Robert Emmet Close), off Bridgefoot Street, off Thomas Street and was likely constructed around 1775.[9] It was described by Samuel Lewis as "a large building ... the prison has two court-yards, two chapels, several common halls and a ball-court."[10]

Conditions

John Dillon said in 1898:[11]

I remember the Marshalsea Prison in Dublin, and in that gaol we had a nice suite of rooms, and we had balls there, and many a pleasant hour I have spent there, in the society of many of the most delightful men in Dublin, who were in the habit of spending some time at that resort. This was 25 years ago, and it was perfectly well recognised then that there was no kind of punishment in the debtors' gaol. They were held there until they made an arrangement with their creditors, but they had everything that their means would allow them to have in prison.

Prisoners

Originally the Four Courts Marshalsea was a remand prison for criminal trials in the Four Courts, and a debtor's prison for cases brought to the Court of King's Bench (one of the Four Courts) from all over Ireland.[10][12] In 1842, the Four Courts Marshalsea received remaining prisoners from three closing prisons:[13]

In 1856, the Four Courts Marhsalsea received remaining prisoners from the Marshalsea of the abolished Manor of St. Sepulchre.[4]

Closure

Four Courts Marshalsea Discontinuance Act 1874
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act for the discontinuance of the Four Courts Marshalsea (Dublin), and the removal of Prisoners therefrom.
Citation37 & 38 Vict. c. 21
Dates
Royal assent30 June 1874

The Four Courts Marshalsea was abolished by the Four Courts Marshalsea Discontinuance Act 1874,[14] because of "the very small and diminishing number of persons in that prison, and to the very large prison staff in proportion to the number of prisoners".[15]

The Dublin Militia used it as a barracks in the later 19th century.[16] It was used as a tenement for some years before being fully vacated in 1970 and demolished in 1975.[16]

Some of the calp stone went to repair the City wall at Cook Street.

As of 2023, much of the complex is occupied by Bridgefoot Street Park with some of the remaining prison walls separating the park from nearby housing.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Four Courts Marshalsea, Bridgefoot Street.

Sources

  • Gilbert, John Thomas (1854). A history of the city of Dublin. Vol. I. Dublin: James McGlashan. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  • Royal Commission on the Poorer Classes in Ireland (1836). "Report on the Gaols of the City of Dublin". Third Report, Appendix (C), Part II. pp. 6b–9b.

Citations

  1. ↑ Complete Baronetage: Great Britain and Ireland, 1707-1800, and Jacobite, 1688-1788. W. Pollard & Company, Limited. 1906. p. 14.
  2. ↑ Train, George Francis (1902). My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands: Dictated in My Seventy-Fourth Year. New York: Appleton. p. 316. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 Gilbert 1854, p.43
  4. 1 2 Britain, Great (1856). "19 & 20 Vict. c. 57 : Manor Court of St. Sepulchre Abolition Act 1856". The statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 274–277 : 275 §§6, 7. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  5. ↑ Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Municipal Corporations In ireland (MCI) (1835). Appendix To The First Report : Report on the City of Dublin, Part II. London: William Clowes for HMSO. Retrieved 30 September 2017. There was formerly a marshalsea for the liberty; but it has been abolished since the Prison Act, 7 Geo. IV. c. 74.
  6. ↑ Moylan, Thos. King (June–August 1946). "The Little Green: Part I". Dublin Historical Record. Old Dublin Society. VIII (3): 81–91. JSTOR 30080073.
  7. ↑ Gilbert 1854, p.61
  8. ↑ "CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ST MICHAEL'S HILL, FOUR COURTS (OLD) Dictionary of Irish Architects -". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  9. ↑ Ordnance Survey of Ireland (1864). "Ordnance Map of the City of Dublin, Sheet 20". Digital Library (2nd ed.). University College Dublin. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  10. 1 2 Lewis, Samuel (1837). "Dublin Inns of Court". A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. libraryireland. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  11. ↑ "Prisons Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 63. House of Commons. 27 July 1898. col. 85–86. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  12. ↑ Inspectors General of Prisons (1823). "Appendix". First report on general state of prisons of Ireland. p. 22.
  13. 1 2 3 "5 & 6 Vict. c.95 : An Act for consolidating the Four Courts Marshalsea Dublin, Sheriff's Prison Dublin, and for regulating the Four Courts Marshalsea, in Ireland". Public General Statutes. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1842. pp. 979–983, esp. the preamble. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  14. ↑ "37 & 38 Vict. c.21 : An Act for the discontinuance of the Four Courts Marshalsea (Dublin), and the removal of Prisoners therefrom.". Public General Statutes. G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode, printers to the Queen's most excellent majesty. 30 June 1874. pp. 160–162.
  15. ↑ "Law And Justice— Four Courts Marshalsea, Dublin.—Question". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 217. House of Commons. 14 July 1873. col. 303. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  16. 1 2 Bennett, Douglas (1991). Encyclopaedia of Dublin. Gill and Macmillan. p. 131. ISBN 9780717115990.
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