When the English forces regained control of Castlebar after the departure of General Humbert, the greater part of the County Prison on the Green was taken from the control of Governor Henry Moran and set aside for military purposes. Provost Martial William Clavroge assumed responsibility for the military section and military prisoners. Apart from a few common criminals, the prison population of 190 comprised captured Irish rebels, deserters from the British military and militias, and political prisoners such as John Moore.
At the spring assizes of 1799, Mayo County Sheriff Dennis Browne cleverly used the compartmentalisation of the prison to his advantage. Responding to a writ of habeas corpus regarding John Moore, he noted that Moore was not actually in his custody as he was detained in the military section. Browne had no authority over military prisoners.
The prison was not built with a whole-scale rebellion and breakdown of civilian authority in mind. There were twenty-five cells, and the maximum number of prisoners that could be accommodated at any one time was ninety. With more than twice the allowed number of prisoners, the prison must have been a crowded and chaotic place in the weeks following the rebellion. Overcrowding, however, presented opportunities for those facing court-martials, execution, or deportation to escape. It also benefited those seeking to better their position through eavesdropping and informing.
Details of escapes can be found in the evidence of Provost Martial Clavroge in the court-martial of Thomas Rigney in October 1800. Rigney was fifteen months in custody. Clavroge explained that several attempts were made to escape from the prison during this period. On one occasion, prisoners knocked down the sergeant of the guard, and four escaped. Two were subsequently retaken. Rigney shared a cell with the four men, and though he had the opportunity, he did not join them. Ten days before his court-martial, Rigney sent Corporal Hackett of the Royal Meath Militia to Clavroge to inform him that prisoners were planning another escape. The plot was revealed, and Major Graham moved Rigney to the main guard room for his safety. Rigney's services to the crown saved his life. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to transportation.
Peter Gibbons of Inver, Erris, was court-martialled at Castlebar in April or May 1799 and sentenced to death. He escaped by creating an opening in the wall of his cell. Another account tells of his escape dressed in female attire. John McGuire and others made an opening in the wall of their cell. Historian Richard Hayes relates that the men with chains fastened to their limbs fled to the Partry mountains. Due to his large frame, McGuire could not get through the opening past his hips. He was subsequently hanged.
A rebel named Gaughan, aided by others, also made a hole in the prison wall and escaped with two others. The opening was narrow, so they had to remove their clothes before passing through it. Once outside, they made their way toward Nephin.
There is also an account of an escape attempt by condemned rebel leader Captain Richard Jordan. His execution was deferred as he was suffering from a fever. His niece Jane Taaffe visited him in prison. Wearing her dress, he walked out the main entrance but was captured and hanged at Claremorris. Historian James G. Patterson includes, among those who escaped, Fr. Myles Prendergast. Detained following the defeat at Ballinamuck, he made his escape by killing a guard.
Late in 1800, John Gibbons Jnr, or Johnny the Outlaw, escaped with several prisoners, much to the annoyance of Denis Browne. He was later captured, tried, and hanged at Westport.
The epic escape of rebel captain Munnelly, told by Jane E Bourke Patten, is preserved in the Dúchas School's Collection. The detail in this account concerning the whipping of Munnelly at Crossmolina is similar to the case of James Monnelly, a convicted ribbonman from Cloontakilla, whipped at Crossmolina in 1824.
'Castlebar Prison before, during, and after the Rebellion of 1798' is the title of a lecture to be delivered in Castlebar on 26 August 2023 as part of the 225th Anniversary Commemoration of 1798. Image: https://1798castlebar.ie/about/
