The oldest inhabited barracks in Europe (and once one of largest), it was originally known simply as the Barracks and later the Royal Barracks, and a mainstay of British forces on the island for several hundred years.
Except for the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, the barracks is the earliest public building in Dublin, and was built from 1701 by the then Surveyor General under Queen Anne, Thomas de Burgh. Burgh was also the architect of the famous library building at Trinity College, Dublin.
Built on a site originally intended for a mansion of the Duke of Ormonde, the complex has several large squares, each open on the south side. The largest square(Clarke’s Square) has arcaded colonnades on the east and west sides, and the main buildings are faced with granite.
Through the 19th century, up to 1,500 troops of various Regiments of Foot (and up to two troops of horse) were stationed at the barracks. However, by the 1880s conditions of accommodation were dangerously inadequate, and strongly criticised following an investigation by Commissioners of the War Office as levels of disease increased. This included outbreaks of fever which claimed the lives of a number of men, from amongst which were members of the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars – predecessor to the current regiment: The Queen’s Royal Hussars.
During the 1916 Easter Rising, the 10th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and other forces were deployed from the Royal Barracks to fight the insurgent Irish Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers who occupied strongly held positions close by on Usher’s Island (under Sean Heuston), the Four Courts (under Ned Daly), and the GPO (under Pádraig Pearse).
