THE CIVIL WAR IN OFFALY: Centenary of burning of Birr barracks by anti-treaty forces

JULY 14, 2022 marks one of the most significant centenaries of the year in Co Offaly, the burning of Birr Barracks.

While the barracks had begun to see decline at the start of the 20th century, it was still an undeniably important economic presence and source of employment in Crinkill and Birr.

In 1897 it was estimated that direct trade with the barracks was valued at around £40,000 or €3.5 million in today’s money.

The start of 1922 saw many important events for the barracks, with the depot staff of the Leinster Regiment departing in February and the subsequent handing over of the barracks to the National Army by the Northamptonshire Regiment.

The barracks briefly acted as the headquarters for the 3rd Southern Command of the emerging Free State. Later with the split in the army, those in favour of the Anglo-Irish treaty left the barracks, leaving behind those against it. This ultimately sealed the fate of the barracks.

On the night of Friday, July 14, the anti-treaty forces left, setting it alight in a bid to stop it from being reoccupied by pro-treaty forces.

The fire was helped spread with the use of a petrol accelerant, which had allegedly been ‘borrowed’ from a petrol station on the Green, Birr, the owner later apparently compensated with a piano from the officers' mess.

The fire burned bright into the night, illuminating all of Crinkill as astonished villagers watched on as the destruction unfolded.

With the intense blaze being visible for miles around, it must have been quite a sight to behold. The fire crept along the various soldier blocks making its way to the clock in the cupola – the clock having been installed 76 years prior in 1846. Its hands finally came to rest at 3.30am on July 15.

When the fire finished its work, all that was left was a pile of smouldering ruins. No buildings had been spared, even the garrison church which served as a place of worship for Protestant members of the garrison had been burnt.

In the morning a steady stream of looters began to arrive and plundered anything that had not burned. Kitchen ware, baths and anything that could be taken, was taken.

This became so much of a problem that the National Army issued a warning - anyone caught with property from the barracks would be prosecuted.

It is quite likely people to this day have items from the barracks in their house, ‘liberated’ by ancestors 100 years ago.

The barracks lay completely gutted and disused. Talks in the Dail proposed that it could be rebuilt to house National Army soldiers in the town, but nothing came of this.

Similar talks occurred during the Emergency, but again nothing happened. The barracks was ultimately sold by the Commission of Public Works for rubble.

The garrison church was sold to the monks at Mount Saint Joseph, Roscrea and the stone was used in the construction of the steeple there.

The main barracks buildings were systematically knocked down and the rubble taken away. Some of the last buildings to be destroyed was one of the officer blocks, along with the central arch and cupola, which were blown up in the 1980s.

Today all that remains are the boundary walls and the fine cut stone entrance gates and protective bastions.

When the British army's Leinster Regiment left Birr on February 2, 1922, its members were seen off by a large crowd.

Depot staff from the regiment left Birr Barracks for Colchester, England, where they would join up with the 2nd Battalion (the 1st Battalion was in India at the time).

The regiment, along with four other historic southern Irish regiments, was earmarked for disbandment, a result of the treaty and because of cutbacks by the British after World War One.

The regiment was formed in 1881 with the amalgamation of the old 100th and 109th Regiments of Foot, which formed the 1st and 2nd Battalions, Leinster Regiment. The local militia, the King’s County Royal Rifles, became the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, along with the militias of Queen’s County and Meath becoming the 4th and 5th (Militia) Battalions.

The regiment's fixed depot was Birr and its recruiting area would consist of Meath, Westmeath, Longford, King’s County and Queen’s County. In 41 years of existence, it served all over the British Empire: the 1st Battalion saw active service in the bloodless Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War (1895-1895); the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions saw active service during the Second Anglo Boer War (1899-1902); during WWI, the regiment raised two service battalions for Kitchener's New Armies, with four battalions in total serving in various overseas theatres. The 2nd Battalion saw peace keeping duties in Silesia after the war, and the 1st Battalion assisted with the suppression of the Malabar Rebellion (1921-1922) in India.

A small detachment from the Northamptonshire Regiment remained behind to oversee an auction on February 3 of 7,000 lots of furniture, sporting requisites, surgical and medical appliances. It is possible that many of these items from this auction still reside in Birr, the history of their origin long forgotten. On February 6 the barracks was formally handed over to Commandant General Michael McCormack of the 3rd Southern Division and there were about 50 members of the National Army present at the handover.

For those interested in learning more about the history of the barracks, Stephen Callaghan, in conjunction with Offaly Historical Society, will be leading a free guided tour of the entire barracks complex. The tour will be on Saturday, July 16 at 11am, starting from outside the Thatch restaurant.

Stephen Callaghan is an independent historian with a keen research interest in Birr Barracks. In 2014 he compiled a database of burial grounds in Offaly for Offaly County Council, and was involved with the excavation of World War 1 era training trenches in Birr in 2018. His latest book 'Birr Military Cemetery' took an in depth look at the history of the cemetery attached to Birr Barracks and the people buried there.