Barracks

The National Monuments Service's description

Pigeon House Fort / Barracks
A 19th-century barracks on Pigeon House Road known as ‘Pigeon House Fort’ was recorded in 2025 in the ‘Our Shared Built Military Heritage: The online mapping, inventorying and recording of the Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690-1921' a project that was funded by the North South Research Programme 2022-2024 and co-led by University College Dublin and The Open University' (Forbes and McGrath 2025).  The barracks was described in the inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921’ as follows; ‘Pigeon House Fort was one of a series of new barracks built in the early nineteenth century in Dublin in light of the rebellions of 1798 and 1803 as well as the ongoing Napoleonic Wars. It differed from the other new Dublin barracks at that time because it was designed primarily to protect British forces during a withdrawal in the event of a successful Irish rebellion. Although there was facilities for 72 soldiers and two officers in the area as early as 1801, construction of the Pigeon House Fort was not finished until 1814. Located on the Great South Wall equidistant from the lighthouse and Ringsend, it was in use throughout the majority of the nineteenth century. Alongside barrack quarters for 16 officers and 201 men, there were significant fortifications and armaments in case of attack and as a means to protect the adjacent Pidgeon House Harbour, which was intended as the point of evacuation if needed. The fort also had a hospital, magazine, arsenal, stores, and stables for 13 horses. It was sold to Dublin Corporation in 1897 and thereafter became part of the sewage and electrical infrastructure of Dublin City. It was briefly re-occupied by the National Army during the Irish Civil War. However, the garrison in 1922 consisted of only 21 men. Part of the original gateway and seawall are all that remains extant of the barracks'.
 

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on description taken from inventory of the ‘Army Barracks of Ireland - Our Shared Military Heritage, 1690-1921

 

Date of Compilation: 11 November 2025

References

Forbes, S. and McGrath, C. I. 2025  Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690–1921: Barracks Dataset and Supplementary Files (version 1.0). The Open University. Dataset.