'Caught all the soldiers unaware in the tea room': the troubled history of the Phoenix Park's Magazine Fort

We toured what was once a British ammunitions store, and which since the 1980s has fallen into disrepair.

By Andrew Roberts Saturday 21 Sep 2019, 8:00 PM

Sep 21st 2019, 8:01 PM 25,756 Views 19 Comments

https://jrnl.ie/4818188

Source: TheJournal.ie/YouTube

BUILT IN 1734, the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park in Dublin once held gunpowder and ammunition for British forces.

Taken over by the Irish Defence Forces in 1922 after the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the site was demilitarised in the 1980s and slowly fell into disrepair.

Since the 1916 centenary events in 2016, the fort has been opened in a limited capacity for tours between April and September.

We talked to OPW Guide Leif Barry who hopes that funding can turn the site into a Irish military museum.

Watch the video for our full report.

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'Caught all the soldiers unaware in the tea room': the troubled history of the Phoenix Park's Magazine Fort