Grangegorman Histories: Time-piece

To celebrate Culture Night 2021, Grangegorman Histories will launch a podcast exploring the extraordinary history of the unique turret clock in the Clocktower Building at Grangegorman. This James Waugh turret clock was installed in 1818 and it has remained a key feature of the building over the past 200 years. While the function of the Clocktower building has evolved over the past 200 years from its original purpose as the Richmond Penitentiary and later Grangegorman Female Prison and Transportation depot, where at least 3,200 women and girls were held before their transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) between 1836 and the early 1880s, several periods of use as a fever and cholera hospital and finally annexed to the then Richmond District Lunatic Asylum, the unique timepiece atop this historical structure has remained a constant. 

The podcast is now available here We hope that you will enjoy it.

About the Podcaster

Megan Brien is a historian of design and interior architecture, currently undertaking a PhD at Trinity College Dublin in the Department of History of Art and Architecture. A Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar, with a particular interest in the interiors of Irish healthcare facilities. Megan’s research utilises disability and feminist theory in design, visual and material culture, to analyse policy provision in twentieth century interior architecture. Megan’s current research concerns the history of interiors in healthcare facilities for autism, in Ireland from 1969 to present day. Megan presents the monthly architecture and design history podcast ‘Running Room’ with her fellow PhD Researcher Yagmur Burhan.