Longstanding military heritage The Curragh has historically been a military assembly area, owing to the wide expanse of plain. In 1599, Henry Harvey noted "a better place for the deploying of an Army I never beheld." However, the Curragh's history goes further back; it is mentioned in the
Annals of the Four Masters that
Lóegaire Lorc, the king of Ireland, was slain on the Curragh by
Cobthach Cóel Breg.
Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel chose the Curragh as a
muster point for the cause of
James II during the
Williamite War in Ireland. In 1783, a review of the
Irish Volunteers raised to assist in the defence of the country while
Great Britain was at war with America held on the Curragh attracted upwards of 50,000 spectators. It was also a muster point during the
1798 Rebellion and was mentioned in the Irish peasant song
The Sean-Bhean bhocht. As translated by
Padraic Colum in 1922:
Crimean War and establishment of Curragh Camp There were numerous training camps organised on the Curragh in the 19th century including for training militia to defend the
UK during the
Napoleonic Wars. However, the first permanent military structures were designed and built from 1855 by British soldiers of the
Corps of Royal Engineers to support efforts in the
Crimean War. These structures for 10,000 infantry were constructed of wood. The camp also had its own post office, a fire station, ten barracks, two churches, water-pumping station, courthouse and clock tower.
Events and routines in 19th-century camp In 1861,
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert visited to inspect troops, including their son,
Edward, Prince of Wales, who was serving at the camp. A great troop review was held for the visit and an album of the occasion can be found in the Royal Archive at
Windsor Castle. The first of the "modern" barracks (Beresford Barracks) was built at the camp in 1879, and six new barracks were subsequently constructed around the start of the 20th century: Ponsonby Barracks, Stewart Barracks, A.S.C Barracks, Engineer Barracks, Gough Barracks and Keane Barracks. By 1893, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) was Major-General Lord Ralph D. Kerr CB. The garrison was the 1st Battalion
Royal Irish Regiment (18th Foot), the 1st Battalion
Lancashire Fusiliers (20th Foot), and the 2nd Battalion
Worcestershire Regiment (31st Foot). In 1894, the Worcestershires were replaced by the 2nd Battalion the
Hampshire Regiment (67th Foot). The Curragh was a little isolated, which led to stringent regulations about taxi fares. However, the camp was well provided for, with recreational facilities (including, for the officers, hunting with the local gentry), several postal deliveries a day (last collection for England at 11pm), and a daily Mass for Catholics at the East Church. A gun was fired every day at
reveille, at 1pm and at 9.30pm.
Wrens of the Curragh The
Wrens of the Curragh were a community of women, who lived close to the Camp, in order that many of the women could be paid for sex work by the soldiers there. The women lived in the furze-covered areas surrounding the camp, living in holes in banks and ditches with few possessions, in what were known as 'nests'. The problem of sexually transmitted diseases due to the prevalence of prostitution and men willing to partake in their services can be seen by the numbers reporting with
gonorrhea in the military hospital in the 1911 census.
Post office A purpose-built post office, designed by Robert Cochrane of the
Board of Public Works, was constructed between 1899 and 1900 and was the second such building in Ireland after the
General Post office. Positioned on a corner site in the centre of the camp, the red brick facade with stone details became a fairly standard post office design, with modifications, in many other post offices around the country. A 2002 survey of the building stated it was well maintained and
An Post no longer runs post office services from the building.
Cemetery The Curragh Cemetery has many graves that attest to the British Army presence on the Curragh up to their departure in 1922. The
Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains the graves of 104 servicemen who died at the camp during
World War I, which are scattered throughout the cemetery.
Curragh incident In March 1914, before the enactment of the
Home Rule Act, the Camp became the scene of the
Curragh incident, where a number of officers proposed to resign rather than enforce Home Rule against the will of the Unionists.
Internment and escapes In August 1920, the British Parliament passed the
Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920, which permitted military authorities to arrest (
intern) any Irish person without charge or trial. Under Section 3(6) of the Act, the military established non-public courts martial, in which lawyers (appointed by the military) could be present only in death penalty cases. Inquests of military or police actions were also banned. The Act was not repealed until 1953. In 1921 there were several camps within the Curragh that were used to house internees to include Hare Park and Tintown camps. During the
Irish Civil War (June 1922 – May 1923) at least 30 internment camps/prisons existed in Ireland which were used by the newly formed Irish government to hold internees opposed to the
Anglo-Irish Treaty. The official internment camp at the Curragh was the Rath camp which held 1,300 internees in 60 wooden army huts on a ten-acre area. The compound was surrounded by ten foot high fences with machine gun towers at each corner. Multiple escape attempts were made using tunnels and other means to get men out of the Curragh. In April 1921 a tunnel was discovered resulting in the loss of internee privileges. On 11 July 1921 the
Irish War of Independence was ended with a truce and all tunneling at the Curragh was suspended. Thirty seven internees who were elected to the new Irish Parliament
Dáil Éireann were released from the Curragh to consider the terms of the British peace terms. Because there was no general release of internees escape efforts continued. On 9 September 1921, between 50 and 70 men escaped from the Hare Park internment camp at the Curragh Camp through a tunnel which took over a month to construct using only knives and spoons. When the tunnel was completed the internees waited for a foggy night and used the noise from an ongoing concert to make their escape. None of the escapees were ever recaptured.
Handover to Irish Free State After the
Anglo-Irish War (21 January 1919 – 11 July 1921) the British Army handed over Curragh Camp to the
Irish Free State Army. The handover took place at 10 o'clock on Tuesday 16 May 1922, when the camp was handed over to a party of Irish troops commanded by
Lieutenant General O'Connell. On Monday evening the
Union Flag was lowered for the last time. At noon, O'Connell climbed the water tower and hoisted the first
Irish tricolour to fly over the Curragh Camp. By tradition the British Army had cut down the flagpole requiring the Irish officers to physically hold the flagpole while the tricolour was raised. Both the Union Flag and the tricolour, which measures are now preserved in the DFTC. ==Irish Civil War executions, deaths and hunger strikes==