Richmond Barracks

Richmond Barracks was a British Army Barracks in Inchicore, Dublin, Ireland which could house up to 1600 soldiers.

Building of Richmond Barracks started in 1810 and it was occupied by the British Army from 1814. It was named after The 4th Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox. Many Irishmen were stationed there before going overseas to fight in World War I, for example the poet Francis Ledwidge enlisted in the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers was initially stationed at Richmond Barracks. In 1907, it became a sub depot for the Royal Irish Constabulary]],^[1] 1910, depots of the 11th, 4th, 8th and 13th Hussars, were located at the Barracks.

1916 Rising

Deputy Michael Conaghan of the Inchicore Kilmainham Heritage Group has said, "The remaining buildings of Richmond Barracks here have very specific connections to the Easter Rising and its immediate aftermath. After the surrender, it was designated by the British as the holding centre for over 3,000 suspected rebels, until they were released or sent to prison camps in England, Wales and Northern Ireland... The signatories of the Proclamation (with the exception of James Connolly) and other leaders were also interned, court-martialed and sentenced to death in the barracks before they were sent to Kilmainham Gaol for execution." ^[2] Included in those who were held in Richmond Barracks after the rising, were Eamon De Valera, Michael Collins, and Con Colbert. The British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith visited on May 12, 1916 and no further executions took place of the prisoners.

Keogh Barracks

After the Irish Free State was founded in 1922, the Barracks was occupied by the Irish Army, replacing the King’s Own, the Welsh Regiment and the Shropshire Regiment, and it was renamed Keogh Barracks, after Comdt Tom Keogh who fought in the war of independence, and the pro-treaty side in the Civil War and was a friend of Michael Collins. one of his 12 apostles and a member of the group who assassinated Cairo Gang, he was killed by a mine in 1922. The Irish Army closed Keogh Barracks down in 1925.

The building came into possession of the Dublin Corporation and was used to house Dublin families who were on the housing list, they built Keogh Square, which was demolished in 1969, and this was rep;aced by St. Michaels Estate there. At the same time as the transfer of the barracks to the corporation, Christian Brothers purchased three of the buildings and turned two of them into class rooms and called it "St Michaels CBS", a national school opening in 1929. It is currently situated in Inchicore, Dublin. President Mary Robinson visited the school in October 1996.

Note: not to be confused with Richmond Barracks, Templemore, County Tipperary, or the Barracks at Richmond upon Thames, England, sometimes it is confused with Richmond Gaol/Penn which was situated in what became Wellington Barracks on the South Circular Road, Dublin and also Richmond General Penitentiary on Grangegorman in Dublin.

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