Former CEO of Spike Island John Crotty revisits the Cork landmark's rich history in his new book Spike Island: The Rebels, Residents and Craft Criminals of Ireland's Historic Island. Listen back above.
Now an award-winning tourist destination, Spike Island has been home to a monastery, a fortress, a convict depot, a famine prison and a young offenders institution. John Crotty, former general manager of Spike Island has spent five years researching the rich and varied history of "Ireland's Alcatraz" for his book Spike Island: The Rebels, Residents & Crafty Criminals of Ireland's Historic Island. John spoke to Oliver Callan about the island’s secrets, stories and famous residents.
There was a monastery on Spike Island from the 7th century until some time in the 12th century. Recent research by Marina Smyth of the University of Notre Dame shows that the Spike Island settlement was a site of international importance - possible even the home of the "Irish Augustine"; a monastic scholar and creator of magnificent Book of Kells-style manuscripts. John Crotty says the location of the original monastery may soon be revealed:
"There’s a rich history there, and still yet to be discovered. One of the most interesting things that the book has thrown up, Oliver is that we now think we might know where the monastery was on Spike Island."
While researching the book, John came across a map of the island from the 1600s with the words 'burial ground’ beside an area of interest. The Spike Island monastery was in operation at the time of the writing of the Book of Kells, and John says there may yet be undiscovered treasures on the island:
"The idea that there’s something waiting, hidden under centuries of endeavour. You know, there are secrets still in Spike Island’s soil"
In the 1650s, Spike Island became a prison under Cromwell, who used it as a depot to transport tens of thousands of Irish prisoners of war to the American and Caribbean colonies.
In the late 1700s, when the British found themselves at war with those very American colonies, they began pouring money into the development of Spike Island, due to its strategic importance.
At the time, Cork harbour was the number one victualling and refuelling point for ships heading across the Atlantic. John says the British spent what would now amount to billions on developing a lavish fortress on the island to support the military aims of the Empire. Once the French joined forces with the American revolutionaries, Spike Island became even more crucial to the British, he says:
"You had a near threat as well as a far threat all of a sudden. So there was no expense spared when it came to this fortress. You look through the records, you’re talking 1000s of labourers on Spike Island at any one time. There was even an army of 100 horses on the island to move the earthworks at all times."
The work continued for decades, until long after the American Revolution was over. The work culminated in the star-shaped Fort Mitchel, which was finished in 1850. John says the British spared no expense or effort to create the fortress:
"The re-engineered that entire island to be one effective kill-zone, if you like. Just utterly impregnable."
The sheer size of Fort Mitchel is still impressive today, John says:
"It’s 24 acres - you’ll have to go a long way before you find something on a bigger scale. You could fit, for example, 2 Wembley stadiums, two Páirc Uí Chaoimh’s in it side by side inside in the fort."
In 1847 Spike Island became a famine prison, with the twin aims of reducing overcrowding in prisons in Britain and Ireland and exploiting the prisoners as convict labour. Prisoner numbers exploded to around 2,300, making it the biggest prison in the world at the time. The inmates, who were men and boys as young as 12, died in huge numbers – over 1000 in the first 7 years of operation. John says:
"We know of over 1300 who are buried in two separate mass graves on the island. So we know a very dark history, a very dark time; but in particular in the first 7 years before they finally improved things and reform started to play a part."
Spike Island later became home to a young offenders institution, and has been used as a base by the Irish Army. It was handed over to Cork County Council in 2010 and launched as a tourist attraction in 2016.
John Crotty managed and developed the site, mounting 'After Dark' tours of the island to cater for the many tourists drawn to the macabre sides of Spike Island's history. To this day, John Crotty hears ghost stories from long-time residents of the island - it's a world apart, he says:
"You’re away from the mainland, you know. You feel very separate from normal life and the real world."
John shares tales from his book about some of the Island’s most famous prisoners, like his personal favourite James 'Jack-in-the-box' Grey in the full interview; listen back above.
Spike Island: The Rebels, Residents & Crafty Criminals of Ireland’s Historic Island by John Crotty is published by Merrion Press.