Crinkill Barracks

Crinkill Barracks was a military installation in Crinkill, near Birr, County Offaly in Ireland.

History
The barracks were built by Bernard Mullins at the instigation of Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, who had supported the need to build some barracks within a few hours’ march of the River Shannon, and were completed between 1809 and 1812. The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians), which had been formed in 1881, moved into the barracks on 17 November 1882. Some 6,000 recruits enlisted at the barracks during the First World War: an airfield was built there in 1917 and Sergeant John Allan was killed when his plane crashed into Crinkill House on 28 March 1919. The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was disbanded at the time of Irish Independence in 1922. The barracks were taken over by the Irish Army at that time but a small group of Irish Republican Army irregulars took control of the barracks and burnt them to the ground on 14 July 1922. The remaining ruins were demolished in 1985. In 2013 the Regimental Association of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) erected a memorial to commemorate the regiment's strong linkages with the area.