Abercorn Barracks
| Abercorn Barracks | |
|---|---|
| Ballykinler | |
Abercorn Barracks
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|
 Abercorn Barracks
Location within Northern Ireland
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| Coordinates | 54°15′26″N 05°48′01″W / 54.25722°N 5.80028°WCoordinates: 54°15′26″N 05°48′01″W / 54.25722°N 5.80028°W |
| Type | Barracks |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Ministry of Defence |
| Operator |
 British Army
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| Site history | |
| Built | 1901 |
| Built for | War Office |
| In use | 1901-Present |
Abercorn Barracks, sometimes referred to as Ballykinlar Barracks or Ballykinler Barracks, is a military installation in Ballykinler in County Down, Northern Ireland.
The barracks, which were named after James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn who was twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, were built in 1901.
The sprawling site of Ballykinlar Barracks was pressed into service as an internment camp during the Irish War of Independence in 1919. After the Partition of Ireland, the new Government of Northern Ireland continued to use the base for internment. There appear to have been attempts by those incarcerated to maintain a normal social structure within the confines of the camp and evidence exists of an orchestra and some examples of typical prisoner art are still available for viewing in museum collections in Ireland, including examples of humorous cartoons. 'Camp tokens' also circulated within the camp in place of money, being made of printed cardboard.
A former IRA prisoner, Louis J. Walsh (a native of County Londonderry and later a judge in County Donegal), published a book in 1921 about his experiences in various institutions in Northern Ireland including a chapter about his time in Ballykinlar Camp which describes, amongst other things, having to march for three miles, handcuffed and carrying luggage, only to be placed in bare huts with nothing to sleep in except damp straw. He continues in a second chapter to describe how the prisoners set up their own 'Council' which then began to negotiate with the military authorities for better food and conditions within the camp. "The camp regime was notoriously brutal - prisoners were shot dead for minor infractions, such as standing too close to the barbed wire fence that kept them penned in (the camp magazine was titled Barbed Wire)." Ballykinlar internment camp housed over 2,000 men from the thirty-two counties of Ireland and was the first mass internment camp in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence. Three prisoners were shot dead and five died of malnourishment in Ballykinlar in 1921 alone.
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