Grangegorman Histories

Calling researchers in the areas of history, design or architecture, public history and/or histories of architecture, landscape, urban design, visual culture or cognate disciplines.

Join us on 3 June for a series of free talks and walking tours of the site.

Joan Kavanagh, author and historian, has documented the experiences of women and girls transported from Ireland to the Australian colonies during the 19th Century. Here, Joan discovers the history of the Clock Tower Building, originally constructed as a penitentiary and later the Grangegorman Transportation Depot.

Paul Rouse is a professor in the School of History at University College Dublin. He has written extensively on the history of Irish sport and the global history of sport. In this essay, Paul uncovers the origin and impact of sporting activities at the mental health facilities in Grangegorman. 

Author Eamon Delaney leads the ‘The Lion and the Shamrock’ project which shares some of the legacy of military history of the north Dublin area, including Grangegorman. Here Eamon explores the treatment of soldiers with psychological trauma resulting from their experiences of the First World War at the Richmond War Hospital, a facility on the grounds of the then Richmond District Asylum located at Grangegorman.

Our Grangegorman Lives series continues with Jennie Wyse Power (1858-1941), Governor of the Richmond District Lunatic Asylum.

The next instalment in our Grangegorman Lives series is Dr Noel Browne (1915-1997) physician and politician remembered for his role as Minister for Health in the eradication of TB and his controversial proposal of the ‘Mother and Baby Scheme’. 

The next addition to our Grangegorman Lives series is Dr Conolly Norman (1853-1908), psychiatrist and RMS, Richmond District Lunatic Asylum (1886-1908).

From the RTÉ Archives, this RTÉ Radio One Documentary ‘A Place in the Community’ is a special feature in the Grangegorman Lives series.

Our Grangegorman Lives series continues with Basil William Maturin (1847-1915), catholic priest and writer, who died on board the Lusitania.

The next pairing in our Grangegorman Lives series demonstrate how very different lives can intersect and impact one another. The lives of Margaret Louisa Aylward and Thomas Lambert Synnott, both born in 1810, intersect in Grangegorman in 1860-1.