Columb Barracks () was a military installation at

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmea ...

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, which were originally known as Wellington Barracks after

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

, were built as part of the response to the Irish Rebellion and completed between 1814 and 1819. The barracks were taken over by forces of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independ ...

in 1922 and renamed Columb Barracks in Honour of Adjutant Patrick Columb, a member of the

Irish Free State Army The National Army, sometimes unofficially referred to as the Free State army or the Regulars, was the army of the Irish Free State from January 1922 until October 1924. Its role in this period was defined by its service in the Irish Civil War, ...

who had been killed in Mullingar by Anti-Treaty Forces (Irregular IRA) in April 1922. Volunteer Joe Leavy, a native of Milltownpass and a member of the Anti-treaty Forces, was also killed. They became home first to the 4th Field Supply and Transport Company and later to 4th Field Artillery Regiment and 54th Reserve Field Artillery Regiment. Notwithstanding strong objections from

Willie Penrose Willie Penrose (born 1 August 1956) is a former Irish Labour Party politician who served as Chairman of the Labour Parliamentary Party from 2016 to 2020 and a Minister of State from March 2011 to November 2011. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD ...

, who resigned as

Minister of State for Housing The Minister of State for Housing and Planning is a mid-level position in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in the British government. The position has been held by Lee Rowley since 8 September 2022. The position was forme ...

over the issue, and strong local protests, the barracks closed in March 2012.

References

{{Reflist Barracks in the Republic of Ireland

History

See also

References