New visitor experience for old Nenagh gaol
Tipperary Co Council has this month invited tenders aimed at creating a new visitor experience at Nenagh’s nineteenth century gaol block.
The block – one of seven that used to stand on the town’s old gaol site – has undergone extensive refurbishment as part of plans to reopen it as a new visitor attraction. The next stage involves two separate elements, the first being development of a unique visitor experience and identification of a mechanism of delivery for visitors.
In seeking tenders, the council wants to ensure that the gaol visitor experience “will appeal to a wide audience – locals, domestic tourists, tourists from abroad, family groups, individuals, all ages”. The successful tenderer will ensure that “the visitor experience is authentic to the facility, its past and the part it played in the history of the development of Nenagh – celebrating Nenagh’s rich heritage offering and, through storytelling, providing an insight into life in the mid-nineteenth century, the lost pre-Famine population, and crime and punishment”.
The new attraction is to be integrated with nearby heritage assets including Nenagh Heritage Centre/North Tipperary Genealogy Centre, Nenagh Tourist Office and Nenagh Castle. Tenderers are asked to source relevant props or memorabilia that would be appropriate to the visitor experience, and create space that would “encourage inclusivity, community usage and provide an uplift to the area and potential benefit to the nighttime economy”.
“It is a matter for the tenderer to identify how they consider the experience can best be delivered whether through storytelling, visual displays or technology,” the council states in its invitation.
CONSTRUCTION WORKS
The contract is valued at just under €130,000 and the procurement process is open until September.
The second element of the gaol plan involves internal and external construction works on the three-storey block. These include adapting the internal partition layout to provide a fully accessible room on the ground floor where interpretation/events will take place.
Further works will be required to allow safe access to the first and second floors, including works to comply with fire regulations. A new surface-mounted interior LED lighting system and emergency lighting system is to be provided, along with ESB connection, while car parking spaces at the site are to be rationalised for pedestrian safety.
The council has secured funding for both elements under the Town & Village Renewal Scheme.
HISTORIC SITE
Built in 1842 but in use as a gaol for only around 40 years, Nenagh’s gaol site was subsequently occupied by the Sisters of Mercy and the Tipperary North Riding council. The subject block was one of seven male cell blocks that once radiated from the Governor’s House (Nenagh Heritage Centre) like spokes in a wheel, connected at first floor level by iron suspension bridges. The gaol had 192 cells in total, including the female prison in a separate building.
The walls and prison blocks were demolished between 1909 and 1911. The remaining block, along with the lower half of a second block, was retained by the council and used for the storage of road machinery and as an office base.
The block, which is a Protected Structure, was left vacant for many years, but a series of conservation works was carried out in 2019. This included re-slating the roof of the cell block, repairs to its chimneys and replacement of the gutter and downpipe.
Stitch repair of internal cracks to the structural walls of the staircase was also carried out, along with repair of the surviving cast iron windows and removal of perspex sheeting, which was replaced with powder-coated stainless steel mesh. A large quantity of pigeon guano was removed.
This work paved the way towards creating what Nenagh Municipal District Administrator Rosemary Joyce hoped would be a “world-class immersive experience, which will take the visitor back in time and present various elements of the gaol complex as they would have been found in the nineteenth century”.