Birr Barracks () also known as Crinkill Barracks () was a military installation in

Crinkill Crinkill (), sometimes spelt Crinkle, is a village in County Offaly, Ireland, close to Birr. Crinkill was designated as a census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteri ...

, near

Birr, County Offaly Birr (; ga, Biorra, meaning "plain of water") is a town in County Offaly, Ireland. Between 1620 and 1899 it was called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. Birr is a designated Irish ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

History

The barracks were built by Bernard Mullins at the instigation of

Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse (21 May 1758 – 24 February 1841), known as Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bt, from 1791 to 1807, was an Irish peer. Parsons was the son of Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet and Mary Clere. He succeeded his father ...

, who had supported the need to build some barracks within a few hours’ march of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Sha ...

, and were completed between 1809 and 1812.Display at the entrance to the ruins of the Barracks In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attentio ...

and the barracks became the

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in Ch ...

for the

100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot The 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot was a British Army regiment, raised in 1858. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 109th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Infantry) to form the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regim ...

and the

109th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Infantry) The 109th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Infantry) was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1862 to 1881, when it was amalgamated into The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). History The regiment was originally raised by t ...

. Following the

Childers Reforms The Childers Reforms of 1881 reorganised the infantry regiments of the British Army. The reforms were done by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers during 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell Reforms. The reorganisation was ...

, the 100th and 109th regiments amalgamated to form the

Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foot ...

with its depot in the barracks in 1881. The regiment moved into the barracks on 17 November 1882. Some 6,000 recruits enlisted at the barracks during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

: an airfield was built there in 1917 and Sergeant John Allan was killed when his plane crashed into Crinkill House on 28 March 1919. The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was disbanded at the time of Irish Independence in 1922. The barracks were taken over by the

Irish Army The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing bran ...

at that time but a small group of

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief t ...

irregulars took control of the barracks and burnt them to the ground on 14 July 1922. The remaining ruins were demolished in 1985. In 2013 the Regimental Association of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) erected a memorial to commemorate the regiment's strong linkages with the area.

References

{{reflist Barracks in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Offaly Demolished buildings and structures in the Republic of Ireland