Bridewells

Victor

Dublin and Cork have Bridewell Garda stations. Is this merely a historical name or are they considered different from other Garda stations? Both happen to have been the stations that had the main courts within their area (some courts in Cork have moved to other buidlings outside the area).

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bridewell

coylemj

Wasn't aware that it originated in a specific place of the same name in England, there is a village called Brideswell in Sth. Roscommon near Athlone but this is named after a well dedicated to St. Brigid.

Corsendonk

Its actually from Brides Well in London that started as a home for homeless kids and ladies of the night and over time became a house of correction. Full story can be found at

http://www.policehistory.com/bridewell.html

detective

The Bridewell in Dublin has been likened more of a prison than a Garda station and it has close links with the court process there. I've never actually been there myself and don't know much about it.

The Bridewell in Cork is the station where you end up if you act up in Cork city centre, but it isn't very close to the courts, which are on Anglesea street and Washington street.

Here is a lovely article on the latter mentioned Bridewell which can give much more info than I can -
http://www.policehistory.com/bridewell.html

coylemj

Things are probably different now that the criminal business has moved to Parkgate St. but the Bridewell used to be the holding centre for people in custody appearing in the Dublin District Courts. As you looked at the Garda Station from across the road, the half of the building to the right of the main entrance was all holding cells containing a mix of people arrested in the previous 24 hours and not allowed out on bail, people due to appear in court that day who had been remanded in custody at a previous court appearance (who would now be dealt with in Cloverhill) and people already serving a sentence in Mountjoy but who had unfinished business in the District Court.

There was an underground tunnel linking the Bridewell and the District Court building beside it which housed Courts 4, 5 and 6. Courts 4 and 6 dealt with northside and southside business respectively while Court 5 used to deal with cases which had a lot of witnesses or was likely to involve lots of legal submissions. Typically a judge in Courts 4 or 6 would look at a case and if they felt it couldn't be dealt with quickly they would dump it into Court 5.

If a Garda say from Store St. had a prisoner in the Bridewell, the procedure was that he would go in the main entrance of the Garda station, turn right and go to the entrance to the holding cells where there was a barred door, he would be admitted by one of his colleagues. He would then go to a Garda at a desk and name the prisoner he was looking for. The Garda at the desk would then shout out the name of the prisoner and the cell he was in so one of the Gardai up on one of the landings would open the cell and call out the prisoner who would come down to the ground level at which stage he and the Gardai would head down the tunnel.

With a Store St. case the prisoner would be left in the cell underneath Court 4 to wait for his case to be called. If the prisoner was on remand in custody for a different case or already serving a sentence in Mountjoy, the Garda on the desk would tell the Store St. Garda that the prisoner had to be brought back to the cells regardless of the outcome of this case, otherwise the assumption was that if he got bail, a suspended sentence or was found not guilty, he could leave.

All warrants issued in the District Courts used to be addressed to the Supt., Bridewell Garda Station so there was a considerable workload sorting out these documents and forwarding them to the relevant Garda Stations around Dublin, these would be warrants to arrest where someone failed to appear for a serious offence or who skipped bail and mundane fines for all sorts of offences.

Mary Hairy

The new Criminal Complex does not open at night. The cells are used during the day only. Prisoners have to be brought in from prisons and garda stations each day. The prisoners can now be driven in under the building and are only allowed out of the vehicle when there is no chance of escape. They are kept in the holding cells underneath until required in court.