Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB23/17/007 B

Address :
Barrack Blocks Palace Barracks Holywood County Down

Townland:
Knocknagoney

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Survey 2:
Record Only

Date of Listing:

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
Barracks

Former Use
Barracks

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
No

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OS Map No:
130/08

IG Ref:
J3912 7750

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Owner Category

Miscellaneous

Exterior Description And Setting

Symmetrical detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick barracks building, built c.1900. Rectangular on plan facing west with a central rear projection. One of seven almost identical barracks blocks within Palace Barracks complex. Hipped artificial slate roof with black clay ridge tiles and metal guttering to timber box fascia and metal downpipes. Redbrick walling laid in stretcher bond with render plinth course. Segmental-headed window openings with granite sills and uPVC windows. Front elevation is fifteen windows wide with a central gable and abutted by a modern portico (c.1990). Timber fascia to central pediment having returns supported on corbelled brick and a louvred loophole to the pediment. Round-headed door opening with replacement double-leaf glazed timber doors and timber overlight opening onto tiled platform. North side elevation is blank. Rear elevation is abutted by a multi-bay two-storey projection, detailed as above with a pair of steel fire escapes. South side elevation is blank. Setting One of seven identical blocks to the centre of Palace Barracks encircled by cobblelock footpaths and bitmac roads. Roof Artificial slate RWG Replacement metal Walling Redbrick Windows uPVC

Architects

Not Known

Historical Information

The barracks was largely constructed between 1894 and 1898 by various contractors, (Belfast Newsletter; First Survey Information) and is likely to have been designed by the War Office Architects department, based in London. The present barracks block was built in 1898 by contractors Laverty of Belfast. It appears that this building was not complete until 1901. (First Survey Information) From the mid-1880s the British Army established the Kinnegar camp at Holywood as a training ground for regiments stationed in Belfast. The camp could accommodate more than 400 personnel under canvas. (Auld, p.129-30) The Bishop’s Palace in Holywood, formerly the official residence of the Bishop of Down and Connor and Dromore, fell vacant on the succession of Bishop William Reeves in 1886, who had a residence in Dunmurry. (Clergy of Down and Dromore, Part II, p.23; Brett, p.143) Attempts were made to sell the Palace and grounds but these proved fruitless until in 1890 an offer of £1,000 from the War Office was accepted. (Belfast Newsletter) By 1891 the palace and grounds were being used for training by the Royal Irish Rifles and the site is recorded as a military barracks in valuation records of that year. (Annual Revisions) In 1893 work began on officers’ quarters and in 1894 the construction of barracks. By September 1896 the barracks were nearing completion and the old palace had been demolished. Four blocks which comprised accommodation for the men were already finished. The Belfast Newsletter described the scheme, which was pioneering in its day, “In all there will be nine blocks, constructed to quarter one regiment of infantry. Each block will afford accommodation for 84 men and two unmarried sergeants. A recreation establishment of the newest type is in course of construction which will contain lecture-room, coffee-room, billiard-room, and a canteen, with separate accommodation for corporals. The usual cookhouses, baths, and workshops, which appear to be very numerous, are in the course of erection. A sergeants’ mess establishment and guardhouses are being erected near the site of the central lodge of the old palace. The commanding officer’s quarters is a separate building and is situated at the south-west angle of the grounds. The officers’ quarters will accommodate twenty-seven officers, with mess establishment...An hospital is almost completed, with a medical officer’s residence adjoining, which is the first time in this part of the country that accommodation for a medical staff has been constructed in conjunction with a military hospital. There is also in course of construction quartermaster’s and warrant officers’ quarters and there will also be erected several blocks of buildings for the accommodation of married men. These houses will be erected at the north end of the park, along the side of the road known locally as Jackson’s Road. The buildings are lighted throughout with gas, supplied by the Holywood Gas Company Limited. The water is supplied by the Belfast Water Commissioners. The sanitary arrangements are perfect. Nothing has been left undone for the comfort and health of the men, who seem well pleased with their new quarters.” (Belfast Newsletter) The records of a parliamentary debate of 1907, in which improving the accommodation at Holywood barracks was discussed, noted that, “There was much more difficulty in recruiting in Ireland than in any other part of the UK and therefore it was important to make the barracks in Ireland as attractive as possible.” (The Parliamentary Debates) References: Primary Sources 1. PRONI OS/6/3/1/1 – First Edition OS Map 1834 2. PRONI OS/6/3/1/2 – Second Edition OS map 1858 3. PRONI OS/6/3/1/3 – Third Edition OS Map 1900-02 4. PRONI OS/6/3/1/4 – Fourth Edition OS Map 1919-31 5. PRONI OS/6/3/1/5 – Fifth Edition OS Map 1938-41 6. PRONI VAL/12/B/17/2E – Annual Revisions 7. Belfast Newsletter, 5th March 1887 8. Belfast Newsletter, 4th April, 1888 9. Belfast Newsletter, 31st October 1890 10. Belfast Newsletter, 15th June 1891 11. Belfast Newsletter, 25th September 1891 12. Belfast Newsletter, 3rd January 1893 13. Belfast Newsletter, 2nd January 1894 14. Belfast Newsletter, 30th September 1896 15. The Parliamentary Debates, 1907 16. First Survey Information, 1989 Secondary Sources 1. Auld, C. “Holywood Co Down, Then and Now” Holywood: Con Auld, 2002 2. Brett, C.E.B. “Buildings of North County Down” Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2002 3. Rankin, F., Leslie, Canon, J.B., Swanzy, Dean H.B. “Clergy of Down and Dromore” Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

Not listed

Historic Interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Symmetrical detached multi-bay two-storey redbrick barracks building, built c.1900. One of seven identical barracks blocks that have lost most external and internal detailing leaving very little of architectural interest. The barracks site is of interest as a purpose-built military complex of a relatively late date and as an example of developments in housing military personnel.

General Comments

Please note this record has been renumbered it was previously recorded as HB23/17/013

Date of Survey

24 January 2011