Magazine Fort: A Historic Gunpowder Magazine in Dublin
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Ireland
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- British, Irish
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page12 sections
History
Magazine Fort is a former military installation and gunpowder magazine in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, constructed from 1735 as a bastion fort and ammunition store. Its position on St Thomas’ Hill made it part of a long sequence of military and administrative uses within the park.
Before the Fort
The lands now forming Phoenix Park had been confiscated from the Knights Hospitaller during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. After the Crown recovered property belonging to Sir Edward Fisher, Fisher’s Phoenix Lodge became the residence of the Lord Deputy of Ireland. The house, built on St Thomas’ Hill in 1611, remained on the site until its demolition in 1734.
Thomas Burgh built an earthwork star fort nearby in 1710. The earthwork structure was later demolished in the 1830s, while a new gunpowder store was planned at St Thomas’ Hill by Lionel Sackville, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Crown’s senior political representative in the country.
Construction and Military Use
Construction of Magazine Fort began in 1735 to designs by the military engineer John Corneille. The project inspired a satirical verse by Jonathan Swift around 1737, which questioned the apparent value of building a magazine when Ireland seemed to have little worth defending. Unlike the nearby earthwork fort, the new installation was built in brick and limestone and remained in military use for approximately 250 years.
The south side gained a triangular barracks and accommodation block in 1801, designed by Francis Johnston. Additional sheds and outbuildings were added during the twentieth century as the fort continued to serve as an ammunition store.
Conflict and Change of Ownership
On 24 April 1916, during the Easter Rising, predominantly young members of Fianna Éireann, an Irish republican youth organisation, raided the fort for arms and tried to destroy the magazine with explosives. The fuses burned out before reaching the ammunition, so the attack caused little damage. An armed sentry and an unarmed member of the garrison household were shot. The sentry was seriously injured and apparently survived, while the other victim died nine hours later. These shootings are believed to have been the first of the Rising.
On 23 December 1939, during the Christmas Raid, the Irish Republican Army seized weapons and more than one million rounds of ammunition from the magazine. The ammunition was taken away in 13 lorries, and most of the stolen equipment was recovered over the following weeks.
The Irish Defence Forces took possession of Magazine Fort from the British Armed Forces in 1922, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Irish Army continued to use the site as an ammunition store until it was fully demilitarised by the 1980s. The fort passed to the Office of Public Works, the Irish state body responsible for public works and the conservation of much of the country’s built heritage, in 1988.
Conservation
The Office of Public Works carried out repair and maintenance work after acquiring the fort. The site remained partly derelict in 2015, while repairs in 2016 allowed limited public access and guided tours initially connected with the centenary of the Easter Rising. Conservation continued in 2019, with further work in 2023. Magazine Fort is managed by the Office of Public Works and is partially restored.
Remains
Magazine Fort occupies approximately 2 acres within Phoenix Park. It is a brick-and-limestone bastion fort, meaning a fortified enclosure with projecting positions that allow defenders to fire along the walls. A dry moat surrounds the principal enclosure, and the walls are approximately 1.5 metres thick.
Defensive Enclosure
Demi-bastions and Gun Positions
Each corner of the fort is defended by a demi-bastion, a reduced corner projection, with embrasures, or openings in a parapet or wall for guns. During the early twentieth century, the demi-bastions were altered to incorporate concrete pillbox positions for machine guns.
Duke of Dorset’s Gate
A 1793 survey records a large artillery piece defending the main gateway. By the 1890s, ten 12-pounder guns were mounted at the fort. Modern conservation work stabilised sections of the perimeter wall and reinstated the Duke of Dorset’s Gate.
Magazine and Accommodation Buildings
Main Magazine Chambers
The principal magazine chambers lie northwest of the main enclosure. These large brick rooms cover approximately 270 square metres and have barrel-vaulted roofs, a curved masonry form that provides structural strength over enclosed spaces. Overhead cranes and gantries enabled powder kegs to be moved within the chambers.
Triangular Barracks
The triangular barracks and accommodation block on the south side was added in 1801 to designs by Francis Johnston. Further sheds and outbuildings were constructed during the twentieth century, when the fort continued to operate as a military ammunition store.
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