Funding will secure Fore Gaol Walls

The Gaol Wall in Fore is no longer fit for purpose – holding the outlaws that made Henry VIII so nervous in 1542 – but thanks to a significant funding announcement of €70,000, the single remaining wall will last another 500 years.

“Our thanks to Melanie McQuade, heritage officer of Westmeath County Council, who continues to identify and secure funding for this important building,” said Cllr Frank McDermott. “This follows on the funding that was needed to take away the sycamore trees that were damaging the remaining structure and risking the wall.

“The wall will play an important part in the community-led development of Fore as a wonderful place for people living here and visiting here.”

In 1542, Henry VIII, a man who’s well-filled, ermine-trimmed frame is still known, mostly, for the extreme prejudice he employed when breaking up with women who loved him. But he’s also the reason for Westmeath.

If Westmeath wanted a patron saint and a day to celebrate, they should have pick November 25 and St Catherine. It was on her day, 1542 that Westmeath came into existence following an Act of Parliament.

Westmeath, this act said, was beset with king’s rebels and the high sheriff of Meath was unable to execute the king’s laws. Those lawless, wild men of the West (of Meath) were housed in Fore.

The remaining stones of the ‘Old Gaol’ stand on the village market place facing the green and Ned’s Forge. What remains is built of roughly coursed limestone and lacks jambs or quoins. Only the front facade and short returns of the side walls survive.

It was originally rectangular with its long axis aligned east-west. It was at least two storied and has a slight batter at the base. The ground floor was barrel-vaulted with a fireplace in the south wall which was later used as a doorway but is now blocked up. The remains of a spiral stair are present in the south-east corner.