Clock Tower Stabilisation Works

Standing since 1816 and located across from An Croí and the East Quad, the Clock Tower Building is one of Grangegorman’s most iconic and historically significant structures. Designed by architect Francis Johnston as a penitentiary, it has served many roles—including a Fever Hospital, prison, Cholera Hospital, and the UK and Ireland’s first exclusively female penitentiary. It also functioned as a transportation depot for women sent to Tasmania until 1858, with male prisoners returning in 1874 due to overcrowding. 

By 1897, the building became the administrative center for the Richmond Lunatic Asylum—later Grangegorman Mental Hospital and St. Brendan’s Hospital—a role it held for over a century. Its four-sided clock is the oldest flatbed mechanical clock in Britain and Ireland, fully restored and still chiming the hour. 

Stabilisation and refurbishment began in 2014, with accessibility improvements in 2016 and further conservation works in 2022 protecting the building’s fabric. Supported by Dublin City Council grants, restoration efforts have preserved features such as the original sash windows and the historic Carriageway Gates.