Situated just inside the North Circular Road gates to the Phoenix Park these lovely, old, red bricked buildings always seemed separate from the old RIC Depot. Was Mr. French correct in his assertion that it was part of the Depot? It is certainly not the image that is shown these days for Garda Headquarters.
The suggestion (proposed by
Bernard Healy and endorsed by
Niall McAuley and
swordscookie) is that these were the 'Married Quarters' for RIC members and families based at the main Depot. Though only very slightly modified over the years since, the
modern StreetView doesn't include the armed sentries which
Carol Maddock tells us patrolled the site in the decades around this photo....
Photographer:
Robert French
Collection:
Lawrence Photograph Collection
Date: Catalogue range c.1865-1914
NLI Ref:
L_ROY_05563
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at
catalogue.nli.ie
Info:
Owner:
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source:
Flickr Commons
Views: 20859
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
I think Mr French / Lawrence made a distinction with this photo, calling it "Barrack" in the small white print bottom left, when the other 'similar items' refer to "Depot". Was this the dormitory for the R.I.C. officers or cadets? Streetview - www.google.com.au/maps/@53.3523713,-6.2999991,3a,60.6y,69... which shows double windows where there is one in the photo (see note).
sharon.corbet
It's not entirely clear on the 25" OSI, but it looks like it may be part of the complex next door.
Bernard Healy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/scorbet If I'm reading the map correctly, I think the railway tunnel runs underneath.
Niall McAuley
The DIA has two entries. The main one is for the RIC Police Depot, now Garda HQ, but there is also this 1894 ref. to a Metropolitan police barrack.
Niall McAuley
At this page from a guidebook to the Park there is a pic with a caption: Closing of Parkgate garda station circa 1930. The station had been a DMP barracks. left to right back row Sgt Thomas Keaveney plain clothes, gárdai Flynn, Thornton, McMahon (plain clothes), Delaney. Front row Park Ranger John Manning salutes Sgt Thomas Kelly. Note old DMP-style pointed helmets and the new flat Garda hat worn by the gárdai. The plain clothes gárdai constituted a vice squad for the park
Bernard Healy
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] I would have thought that referred to the Dublin Metropolitan Police Barracks at Parkgate Street. maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,713342,734476,12,9
Niall McAuley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardhealy I think you are right!
Bernard Healy
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] Or maybe even the DMP barracks at Bessborough which was also in the park. maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,710913,736869,11,9
Inverarra
Some great sleuthing there. I always claim that I had a relation "out" in 1916 on the strength of a grand uncle who was a R.I.C sergeant in the Phoenix Park depot. D.M.P. were unarmed as opposed to the armed R.I.C.
Bernard Healy
Okay - some wild speculation... phoenixpark.tumblr.com/post/139829857710/hansards-parliam... Is there any possibility that this might be the 'Married Constables Quarters' built c.1886? Hansard reports they were built on an 'acre and a half'. OS Map puts our building on a plot of 1.201 acres...
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
"Something About the R.I.C." - from Trove, a 1900 description of the R.I.C.; the six months of training at Phoenix park for new recruits, the rates of pay (12 shillings a week plus board and lodging) etc - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/233731417
Niall McAuley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardhealy I like that Married Quarters idea - the building is clearly a terrace of small houses connected to the RIC depot, so it fits.
Swordscookie
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley This was the Married Quarters for the staff in (a) the RIC Depot until 1922 and later for members of the staff in the Garda Depot until the recruit training was moved to Templemore. Regrettably they are not small houses but small apartments and the reverse would show a balcony along the upper storey. These were considered very desirable due to their location and reasonable rental conditions! As regards the DMP Station in Parkgate St. that was used as a dormitory for the recruits right up to the transfer to Templemore and later became the Driving Test Centre for many years!
Carol Maddock
From the Kerry Sentinel on Saturday, 6 January 1900 (vaguely close to the time this photo was taken?)
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Thanks https://www.flickr.com/photos/47297387@N03 - I've added that little nugget (together with the input from https://www.flickr.com/photos/bernardhealy, https://www.flickr.com/photos/swordscookie and others) into the description.
Dr. Ilia
Beautiful
Niall McAuley
OCO 65 in the archive, titled Residential street, in an unknown location, is this same terrace a few years later, with the creeper covering the gables. It is also flipped R to L. That one is an O'Connor and hence after 1900, in includes men in boaters, so probably 1905ish. I think that dates this one to the 1890s. Note the policeman in a pillbox hat, also pre-1900.