R.I.C. Barracks, Deergrove, Islandeady

The ruin of an R.I.C. barracks at Deergrove, Islandeady is a grim reminder of a troubled past in Ireland. This was just one of sixty-three barracks and police huts that were scattered across County Mayo where over four hundred men were deployed during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A substantial building, the barrack was erected on 1 acre and 35 perches of land the property of Sir William H. Roger Palmer, Bart. In the 1920s,during a period of violent unrest in the country, the authorities vacated many rural barracks and evacuated the police to the relative safety of the larger centres. The force at Islandeady was transferred to the surrounding towns and the barrack was left undefended. Islandeady Agricultural Society took over the building and used it for various community activities. Dances were held and a milling business operated from there. On Easter Sunday night, 1920, the building was set alight by “persons unknown” and considerable damage was done. The ‘Connaught Telegraph’ of June 12th. 1920, reported that a malicious damage claim for one thousand pound was lodged in a Castlebar court.

The R.I.C. the first countrywide police force, was formed in 1822 and was known as the Irish Constabulary. On the 6th September 1867, Queen Victoria, recognising its ‘loyal and faithful service’ in the suppression of the uprising by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, honoured the I.C. with the title “Royal”. She decreed that ‘henceforth’ the Force was to wear the Crown and Shamrock insignia on their uniforms.

The duties of the R.I.C. were many and varied; apart from normal policing, they included gathering intelligence, checking the sale of food and drink, estimating the size of the potato crop, maintaining order at elections, preventing wakes for those people who had died of infectious diseases, etc. Many of it’s members were killed in the line of duty.

The R.I.C. disbanded in 1922 when the Border with Northern Ireland was imposed. The R.I.C. in the north became known as the R.U.C (Royal Ulster Constabulary) and in the South, the force became the Civic Guards or Garda Siochana.

The photos below show some of the defences extant at Islandeady barrack and also a cell where prisoners were held. Note the window shutters have gun-ports allowing the defenders a wide arc of fire.