Victoria Barracks was a military installation in

New Lodge, Belfast The New Lodge () is an urban, working class Catholic community in Belfast, Northern Ireland, immediately to the north of the city centre. The landscape is dominated by several large tower blocks. The area has a number of murals, mostly sited ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

History

The barracks were completed just before the Irish Rebellion in 1798. In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attentio ...

and the barracks became the depot for the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County Down) Regiment of Foot. Following the Childers Reforms, the 83rd and 86th regiments amalgamated to form the Royal Irish Rifles with its depot in the barracks in 1881. A major extension was built between 1880 and 1881 to accommodate the extra troops. The Royal Ulster Rifles moved to St Patrick's Barracks in 1937. The barracks were bombed and badly damaged by the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and fell into a complete state of disrepair in the 1950s before being finally demolished in the early 1960s. Some of the officers’ houses are still in use as private housing, the Sergeants’ Mess is now a social centre known as “the Recy” but most of the site is now occupied by the “Artillery Flats”.

References

{{reflist Barracks in Northern Ireland Installations of the British Army