Gaol time for Retired Clergy Association (NI) members

Monday August 11th 2025

Inside Crumlin Road Gaol.

Report by the Rev Clifford Skillen

Eleven members of the Retired Clergy Association (NI), together with five spouses, recently found themselves incarcerated in gaol, but readers and colleagues will be glad to know (or maybe not!!) that they were released after a short time!

The imprisonment was part of a visit which members made to the former Crumlin Road Gaol, now a visitor attraction following extensive renovations. The Gaol dates back to 1845 and finally closed its doors as a working prison in 1996.

The visit took the form of an approximately 90-minute, self-guided, interactive tour, facilitated by audio and video presentations, holograms and information boards and wall placards positioned at appropriate points throughout the site.

Areas of the Gaol which were covered in the tour included the Tunnel (a former access underneath the Crumlin Road to the Courthouse), the historic Holding Cells, the Gaol Circle, C-Wing, the Condemned Cell, the Hangman’s Cell and Execution Chamber and the Graveyard, all of which illustrated a wide range of areas of past prison life.

Given the history of the Gaol, some aspects of the tour naturally did not lend itself to ‘easy’ or ‘enjoyable’ viewing, but members agreed that the whole experience gave a fascinating and worthwhile insight into the history of what were difficult social and political times over the last century and a half.