The Cache
Stage 1:
How many windows are blocked on the 2nd level? Answer = A
Patrick banished them, George slayed one, but how many altogether are here? Answer = B
Stage 2:
How many were sentenced to 'Death by being shot'? Answer = C
How many have 5? Answer = D
Stage 3:
Both are fierce but how many letters in the name of the mythological one? Answer = E
Around the side, how many steps to go in? Answer = F
Stage 4:
How many bars? Answer = G
Enjoy Kilmainham.
Checksum = 40
The final can be found at:
N53 (A*B). D (C - A) (A + B)
W 006 (G*3). F (E - A ) (E - D)
Please watch out for muggles
This is a short Multi-cache – all stages are within walking distance around Kilmainham.
Kilmainham (Cill Mhaighneann in Irish, meaning "St Maighneann's church") is a suburb of Dublin - An area of great historical interest. The Celts settled in Kilmainham about 2,000 years ago to take advantage of a ford across the Camac, the local river. The Vikings also established a community and their largest graveyard outside Scandinavia was found in Kilmainham.
Of interest in this area are Kilmainham Gaol, Kilmainham Courthouse, The Royal Hospital, The Richmond Gate, and The War Memorial Gardens, to name a few. The stages of the cache will bring you to some of these sites.
Kilmainham Gaol (Irish: Príosún Chill Mhaighneann) operated as a prison for over 130 years. It played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned here.
When it was first built in 1787, Kilmainham Gaol was called the 'New Gaol' to distinguish it from the old jail it was intended to replace - a dungeon, just a few hundred yards from the present site. It was officially called the County of Dublin Gaol, and was originally run by the Grand Jury for County Dublin.
Before you even enter the building you get a hint of its macabre past.Public hangings took place at the front of the Gaol. The balcony over the front door entrance was used as a gibbet for the hangings. Children were sometimes arrested for petty theft, the youngest said to be a seven-year-old boy, while many of the adult prisoners were deported to Australia. There was no segregation of prisoners; men, women and children were incarcerated up to 5 in each cell, with only a single candle for light and heat, most of their time was spent in the cold and the dark.
Over the years, its cells held many of the most famous people involved in the campaign for Irish independence. The British imprisoned and executed the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising here.The most famous, or infamous, executions of all in Kilmainham were those of fourteen of the leaders of the failed 1916 Easter Rising. These took place in May 1916, in the early hours of the morning in the Stonebreaker’s Yard. Among them was Padraig Pearse and his brother William, James Connolly, Eamon Ceannt and Sean McDermott. Stark black crosses now mark the places where these deaths occurred.
While the Easter Rising ended in failure, the execution of those involved was a disaster for the British as it rallied even those who had opposed the Rising to the cause of Irish Freedom and eventually led to the formation of the Irish Free State in 1921. During the Civil war executions of anti-treaty Republican prisoners took place. Kilmainham Gaol was abandoned as a gaol in 1924, by the government of the new Irish Free State. It wasn’t until the 1960s that efforts began to preserve it and open it again to the public. It opened in time for the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising and is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Dublin. It houses a museum on the history of Irish nationalism and offers guided tours of the building. An art gallery on the top floor exhibits paintings, sculptures and jewellery of prisoners incarcerated in jails all over Ireland.
The following films have been filmed at Kilmainham Gaol: The Quare Fellow, The Face of Fu Manchu, The Italian Job, The MacKintosh Man, The Whistle Blower, In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins, The 24 Movie, The Escapist, and others. A music video for the U2 song A Celebration was filmed in Kilmainham jail in 1982.
Proclamation – Rowan Gillespie
Fourteen figures stand in a megalithic circle, blindfolded, as they would be for execution. The figures are limbless, but far from lifeless. At the centre is a plaque containing a copy of the Proclamation of Independence, engraved in bronze. Each figure has at its base a small plaque, engraved with the British military tribunal’s verdict and sentence of death. The figures are perforated with bullet holes. Since the original commission was for the seven signatories of the Proclamation, Gillespie has donated the other seven martyrs to the site himself.
Proclamation is a monument to those who gave their lives to change the course of Irish history and release the dreams of the Irish people.
No man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation; no man has a right to say to his country, Thus far shalt thou go and no further… Charles Stewart Parnell…
Kilmainham Courthouse
Built in 1820 to replace an older structure, the courthouse is sited next to the former gaol. The building is finished with austere stonework and the Royal coat-of-arms in the pediment. Closed in July 2008, it is planned to become a legal museum. Now the Celtric Tiger has stopped roaring, one wonders if projects like this will ever be completed.
Richmond Tower / Gate:
When you reach the gateway look through at the rather dramatic avenue to the Royal Hospital / IMMA. The gateway, known as the Richmond Tower, has an intriguing history. This tower was not built for the Royal Hospital at all but once stood much nearer to the city centre at the junction of Watling Street and Victoria Quay, as a symbolic western gateway to the city of Dublin. When the railway terminal at nearby Kingsbridge Station (now Heuston) opened in 1846, the resultant increase in traffic caused congestion daily at the gatehouse junction. Traffic problems, even in 1846! It was taken down in 1847 and relocated a short distance away to its present position.
Designed by Francis Johnston, it was built of Dublin granite. He had placed his personal coat of arms above the arch, concealed by a piece of wood painted to match the stone, his idea being that his arms would be revealed to future generations after the wood became rotten. However, his little trick was uncovered when the gateway was taken down for removal. The coat of arms at present on the gateway is that of the Royal Hospital.
Bully's Acre & The Royal Hospital Through the gateway are the grounds of The Royal Hospital – now IMMA, The Irish Museum of Modern Art, it’s gardens, several graveyards (graves of the soldiers the hospital was built for) and Bully's Acre. Bully’s Acre (actually 3.7 acres) is one of Dublin's oldest cemeteries, dating back to the 6th/7th century. A 10th century standing stone still stands here. Robert Emmet, the leader of the 1803 rebellion was buried overnight here, after his execution, but his final resting place is unknown. The cemetery was very busy during the great Cholera Epidemic of 1832 and until it was closed, it remained popular with the poor, as it was common ground, and there was no charge for burials.