18 - ‘The Auld Triangle’

Summary

The soundscape was intimately bound with the process of becoming acclimated to the rhythms and routines of Midtown. Long-term exposure could desensitize to its effects, but this did nothing to reduce its impact on their orientation to the institution. Auditory aspects of routines worked to anchor people further within its rhythms, reverberating with expectation and experience. These sounds also echoed with broader, cultural representations of the prison. Film, television and music are littered with examples of dramatic renditions of life behind the wall. Representations of the prison in folk music have long been an interest of mine. Growing up in a part of London with a large Irish community, I cannot remember a time I was unfamiliar with rebel and folk music. ‘The Auld Triangle’ is one such song, variously attributed to Brendan Behan and the Dubliners.1 It appears in Behan's play The Quare fellow (1954) but is credited to his friend Dick Shannon. The song itself refers to the ‘triangle’ at the gate of Mountjoy prison. It was hit with a hammer to signal various points of the routine and could be heard far and wide ‘all along the banks of the Royal Canal’. The auld triangle reverberated with the meanings it signified, of place and punishment. Its song rang a sense of cultural ownership of Mountjoy, and a belonging signalled by sharing in its meanings, reinforced with every repetition. Midtown's tune similarly echoed with expressions of belonging and ownership.

There was no triangle at Midtown, but its bell was rung at key points of the regime, engraved with the year the prison opened nearly 200 years ago. The bell was firmly entrenched within the daily rituals and routines of the prison, signifying the history of the place, its position in the local community and its meaning for those currently living and working within it. The bell's position at the centre of the prison meant it could not be heard from beyond the walls. As Kevin's son demonstrated, it was audible to those coming to visit friends and loved ones, reaffirming Midtown's purpose in the consciousness of those who passed over the threshold.