The Ballad of Reading Gaol The Ballad of Reading Gaol The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile in Berneval-le-Grand, after his release from Reading Gaol () on 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard labour in prison. During his imprisonment, on Tuesday, 7 July 1896, a hanging took place. Charles Thomas Wooldridge had been a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards. He was convicted of cutting the throat of his wife, Laura Ellen, earlier that year at Clewer, near Windsor. He was
Dundalk Gaol Dundalk Gaol Dundalk Gaol is a former gaol (prison) in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. The men's wing is now "The Oriel Centre", the women's wing is the Louth County Archive and the Governor's House now a Garda station. Built in 1853 to help with the overcrowding of the gaol already in place at Crow Street - which is now Dundalk Town Hall. It was designed by John Neville and cost £23,000 to be constructed. The gaol was opened on 19 January 1854. For approximately 60 years the gaol functioned largely as an unremarkable county gaol, averaging 25 prisoners at any