What took place behind the official name and the walls it was emblazoned on never seemed to invite a great deal of probing or interest. Who other than those in the camp at the time now remembers the burning of Magilligan in October 1974? The contrast with Long Kesh being torched is pronounced. Few from the same era are likely to forget it going up in flames.
Within a few days of being sentenced to two years imprisonment in December 1974, I found myself in the back of a ‘tin can’ making the longish journey from Crumlin Road Prison to Magilligan Jail. It was a cold Friday afternoon and the temperature seemed to drop degree by degree, probably dipping more sharply along the Glenshane Pass which I figured was the route we took although I had no way of visually confirming that. I would remain confined within the prison camp for the following year, watching its wire perimeter yield to the new heavy duty wall being erected. I can’t say I loved the place but as a 17 year old I found it - just like the many books I read while there - not short of interest.
Unlike Long Kesh accomodation, Magilligan was fitted out with heating pipes so once ensconced inside the huts the place was warm.Yet my memory of the first few days resonates with the chill factor that descended on us as we ‘bouled’ the yard, the wind biting through our clothing as it made its way across from some place we only ever knew as Moville
I took this book on a train with me just before Christmas and despite having two children with me not disposed towards peaceful journeys, I managed to get the most of it read before I reached Belfast Central Station. The reason I never got to finish it on the way back was the demon drink. A bellyful of it prior to making the train and ...
Less than a hundred pages in length Magilligan POW Memories is made up of 9 chapters. Playing the Ouija board or poteeen brewing, making handicrafts or slogging it out on the two sports fields, it is all here. The chapter on discipline will prove useful to future researchers. The IRA regime within the camp, with its grades of punishments for those volunteers up ‘on a charge’ for some usually minor infraction of the republican code, might seem quaint today but it worked then.
The most poignant chapter is the fourth which tells the tale of the republican prisoner, Jim Gallagher, who was shot dead by the British Army within a week of his release. He was travelling unarmed on a bus when he was ambushed, returning from a visit to the cinema with his girlfriend. He was targeted by his British military slayer with one thought in mind - Shoot To Kill. His death so angered the prisoners that they used the language ‘war crime’ to describe it.
There are lots of great photos here conveying the republican set up within the prison regime: IRA drilling in the yard, Easter parades, concerts, lectures and more. The sketched map of the camp depicted it as I recalled it apart from one minor detail: the gym that was situated between Cages H and G was not included. I remember it so well due to frequenting it regularly, never to train but to yarn with a Short Strand republican being held in Cage G at the time. The channel separating us was a mere few feet, making conversation easy.
The author claims it is not a definitive history. True, but as it stands there is no better history. It demonstrates the value of oral history because the spoken word is a key way in which the memories of this prison from the 1970s and 1980s could be recorded for posterity. Frankie McCarron served the discipline of history well by his retrieval endeavours.
I was pleased to have played a cameo role her, subscribing my account of participation in one attempted escape and an actual escape that did come off. The history of break outs and unsuccessful attempts are well covered and the accounts are exciting enough to interest the reader with no overall political interest. The story telling in itself lends to enjoyable reading. The elaborate process of tunnel construction coupled with the degree of organisation that went into making escape possible should also endear themselves to the historian. Some of those who escaped but were quickly recaptured later became stalwarts of the blanket protest, having been deprived of their political status for their efforts.
This book despite its brevity is a treasure trove in which researchers and students of the prisons will find many gems.
Frankie McCarron, 2013. Magilligan POW Memories.
The book is available at the following locations:
Museum of Free Derry (Bloody Sunday Museum) Glenfada Park Bogside
Pennywise Shop in the Rathmor Centre, Creggan
Little Acorns in Pump Street Derry
It is also available online with the following options:
(a) £8.95 delivery by post to UK and Ireland for one book
(b) £40.00 delivery by post to UK or within Ireland for 5 books
(c) £11.40 delivery to Europe excluding U.K. and Ireland for one book
(d) £12.95 delivery to U.S.A. Australia etc for one book
Fascinating reading and unless one was either a prisoner or a visitor it might be difficult to get the sense of isolation of this out of the way camp
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the read and will definitely pick up a copy.
Tain Bo,
ReplyDeletethat was the sense of a 17 year old from Belfast. I am not so sure the Derry men thought it that out of the way. But it is a great read. I think this is a stayer on the book shelves for some time to come.
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteI am sure the locals viewed it as close to home but my first impression was the emptiness and isolation and how out of place it looked given the tranquil natural beauty that surrounded the jail.
The article is excellent and brought back a lot of forgotten memories the good and not so good.
I think the isolation is reinforced in the historical sense as it was a far distant second to the Kesh and the Crum and Armagh.
I agree it should be on anyone interested in the prison struggles reading list I will be ordering a few copies and look forward to the read to a place I had largely forgot over the years minus the odd conversation.
If it is nearly as interesting as the article then it will be a few quid well spent.
Tain Bo,
ReplyDeleteout on a limb it was the feeling I always had of the place.
The book is much much better than the review. Easy read, enjoyable but most of all informative.
Thats looks like an excellent read Frankie... I know about LongKesh/H Blocks from books and from here too. I know zero about Magilligan..
ReplyDeleteAfter a bit of googling..found this piece about Jim Gallagher who was murdered by the BA six days after being released from Magilligan in May 1976..
There is youtube video with a montage of prisioners from the 70's-early 80's ..At 2mins 7seconds there is a picture of Irish Republican Army CCoy 5th Batt. Magillgan POW camp . I have no idea when the picture was taken..dress sense tells me the 80's was still a few years away. Maybe someone recognizes someone..
Was there any difference between LongKesh and Magilligan in how they both went about life under political status..?
Frankie,
ReplyDeletethey were pretty much the same.
Cheers Anthony..
ReplyDeleteAfter status was ablolished..the same treatment was metted out by the screws too?
If my question about the treatment of prisoners after March 1976 sounds niave. So be it. But basically every book, newspaper...online article I've read about prisoners between ' 68-'98, Magilligan prison and Portlaoise prison hardly gets a footnote.
ReplyDeleteCrumlin Road, Armagh, they always get two or three paragraphs every other chapter. LongKesh/HBlocks, at least one chapter plus references to the Hunger Strikes legacy through out. But Magilligan, next to nothing?
. Never in the same news-magnet league as Long Kesh, Magilligan existed as something out there, up yonder, tangible but only in outline.
As a Belfast rockabilly growing up during the conflict..What Frabkie mcCarron said at a guess,that was probably most non combatants view too.
Frankie,
ReplyDeletethe line you cite is from my review not the book by Frankie. Being a Derry man he might have found it much less out of the way than I did.
When status was withdrawn in March 76 those who had it retained it. People arrested for activity after that date were denied it. The status prisoners in Magilligan retained it. There were no sentenced prisoners being sent to Magilligan for post March 1st actions; they all went to Long Kesh where the H Blocks were. H Blocks were later built in Magilligan but did not feature in the status struggle but did in the segregation campaign post the end of the Blanket.
Sounds like an interesting book and one which I’ll put on my must buy list.
ReplyDeleteI had the experience of visiting Magilligan on one occasion in 1974 after me da was sentenced to 6 weeks in jail for drink driving (didn't stop him, still does it). My memories are scant but I still remember the journey from Derry with my mother and the visiting area which resembled something from the movie ‘Goodfellas’ which i believe may have been a canteen laid out with tables & chairs. The other thing I remember on the visit was his blue prison issue uniform and I distinctly remember the 1960s black winklepicker boots on his feet.
That’s about it really, not much from a 5 year old.
After doing a little research on google in regards to Magilligan I’ve discovered from the wikipedia website that it was in 1976 that non-political prisoners first began to be incarcerated there.
ReplyDeleteIs this correct can someone who was there from 1974-76 confirm this?
It’s possible that I’ve been given the wrong year and that it may in fact have been 1976. I know he spent 6 months in Crumlin road jail in 1970 for riotous behaviour in Derry and there’s sightings of him in old film footage at the barricade riot in William street on Bloody Sunday in 1972.
Combat Rock,
ReplyDeletenice memory.
I think you are right. There had to non political blokes there for cooking, laundary, maintenance and the like. All jails had them.
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteSorry for misquoting you (ever thought of taking writing up).. How you describe Magilligan is how it has always sounded in my head (Derry seems closer in my head to Belfast than Magilligan).
Thanks for the short history lesson..Set me off on a tangent that night..
I am privileged to bein the posession of an amazing hand carved wooden harp, with 'Magilligan P.O.W Camp 1976' embossed in gold print on it. Given to me by my mother now 77yo from Roughan Brackaville. I would love to know which of the heroes made this beautiful piece.
ReplyDelete