The origins of the Royal Irish Constabulary can be traced back to July 1814 when Robert Peel, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, established the Peace Preservation Force, a rudimentary policing body intended to counter growing rural unrest around the country. The colloquial names ‘Bobby’ and ‘Peeler’ used to describe members of the police force originated during this period and were derived from Peel’s name. Sir Richard Willcocks, a former Dublin Magistrate and Special Government Magistrate, is the PPF’s first appointed Chief Magistrate and was sent to the Barony of Middlethird with a base at Cashel, County Tipperary. This part of the country includes the village of Annacarty, which lies some ten miles north-west of Cashel. Within a few years, it was experiencing disturbances occasioned by Cornwallis Maude, 3rd Viscount Hawarden whose family had a history of evicting tenants and raising rents on their estate. In 1821, he provided the land on which a police barracks was built in Annacarty. A year later, Peel’s legislation was superseded by the Irish Constabulary Act, which established a police force in each of Ireland’s four provinces, all having their own inspector-general appointed by the Lord Lieutenant. The Constabulary (Ireland) Act of 1836 then merged those provincial forces into a single centralized body (though it did not operate in the capital, which retained its own force, the Dublin Metropolitan Police). Following its involvement in the suppression of the Fenian Rising of 186, Queen Victoria granted the organisation the prefix ‘royal’, being thereafter known until its disbandment in 1922 as the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC).
During the War of Independence (1918-21), the RIC Barracks at Annacarty was attacked on several occasions and, as a result, the resident force was supplemented by members of the Black and Tans (‘Temporary Constables’ made up largely of British ex-soldiers who were brought to Ireland in an attempt to suppress revolution). During this period, the barracks sergeant was a man called Cornelius O’Sullivan, originally from Kerry: his being from outside the area was not unusual in the RIC, since there was a concern that locals might have an excessive allegiance to the immediate locality). It appears that O’Sullivan was in contact with the IRA unit in the area, encouraging it to take the barracks. However, he was then taken away from the site by members of the British military and never seen again, presumed killed: his body has never been found. Perhaps due to its defensive design, Annacarty was one of only two RIC barracks to hold out throughout the War of Independence. Once the Following the official declaration of a truce between the British and Irish on 11th July 1921, the building was handed over to the local IRA which then occupied the building. Unfortunately, the following year it was subsequently attacked by an Anti-Treaty force and a siege of several days then took place. After the barrack’s leader was wounded and his men had run out of ammunition and supplies, in early May 1922 they were forced to surrender. The Anti-Treaty group then set fire to the place, which has stood a ruin ever since.
Standing on high ground above and a short distance from the village, the former RIC barracks in Annacarty is of interest for a number of reasons, not least that it was one of the very first such buildings to be constructed, believed to be 1821-2. The architect is unknown, but must have been someone with an interest in historic design, since the barracks takes the form of a miniature castle, with crenellations along the roof level, an hexagonal tower on the south-west corner (note the gun loop on one of its sides) and a bartizan on the north wall. There’s also an unusual cross pommy-shaped gun loop on the second floor of the west wall, further indicating a knowledge of mediaeval architecture. The large arched openings on both ground and first floor soften the otherwise aggressive appearance of the barracks, but overall its form is indicative of the need at the time it was commissioned for a police barracks capable of withstanding attack: most later RIC barracks were altogether more domestic in character and quite often stood within the local town, rather than apart from it. While the interior of the building has now gone, the sturdiness of its construction means the barracks continues to provide an observation point for activity in the immediate area. A fascinating survivor.
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