Talk on the Curragh 'Encampment Bell'

Illustration showing drills at the camp c1860.

For those interested in the history of the Curragh Camp, a lecture and photographic exhibition in the Garrison Church on Saturday 20 August will be a specific attraction of Heritage Week 2022, writes Brian Byrne.

Beginning at 3pm, The Curragh Camp Encampment Bell - 1855 is a talk delivered by noted local historian Reggie Darling. The bell is a little-known but key element from the establishment of the training camp by Britain in 1855, to prepare new recruits for the Crimean War.

A report from the Leinster Express on 5 May 1855 describes the work in progress to build the camp, 'as a means whereby our young soldiers may be trained up in all the varied duties of strict field services, and be made somewhat accustomed to the labours which the soldier is called on to perform even whilst exposed to the deadly fire of the enemy, so that the troops will be found of real efficiency when, amidst the trenches or on the battlefield, they will be brought in contact with war in all its stern reality'. 

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