The black basalt and red sandstone Crumlin Road Gaol (pronounced jail) was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon and inspired by the cutting-edge layout of London’s Pentonville Prison. The Gaol’s four Wings (A-D) radiate from a centre Circle and rise three storeys, with a fourth basement level. Each small prison cell was built for single occupancy, though many housed up to four cellmates during the 1970s.
In the early years, inmates included women, children and petty criminals – some bound for Australia’s penal colonies. Suffragettes were also housed here before female emancipation following WW1. Throughout the Troubles