Post by joemurray on Sept 11, 2012 20:06:07 GMT
Just finished reading John McGuire book 'IRA Internments and the Irish Government'.He devotes some pages on the Tintown Internment Camp 1957-59.
On the 9 July 1957 a convoy of 3 lorries and 4 patrol cars transferred 30 internees from the Bridwell to the Curragh Camp.Due to the disrepair of the Tintown site they were temporarily detained in the Glasshouse.Though out the day bedding and blankets were delivered to the Curragh.Meanwhile the army were erecting barbed wire barriers and sentry towers in the compound that housed Germans during WW2.Later that day another convoy containing 26 prisoners arrived.
When the Tintown camp was deemed fit for use the Internees were transferred there, from the Glasshouse.Commandant Carl O'Sullivan was appointed 'camp commandant'.
By September 109 individuals were interned in the Curragh-peaking at 152 the following June.The huts were described by internee Tony Hayde just like the kind 'you'd see in films of the last war'.
The compound was surrounded by six fences of barbed wire.A seventh fence was placed 50 yards out on the Curragh plain to prevent local people coming too close.
Within the camp itself ,the internees were housed in three of four dormitory style huts.That had a rotating occupancy to facilitate frequent searches of the vacated huts.Next to the entrance was the dining hall,then a recreation hut.At one end of this hut was a sub-branch of the Kildare County library.Across a rough roadway from the line of dormitory huts stood the ablutions building and a chapel,leaving a long open strip for recreation.
Initially,the camp was supervised by four main sentry towers on the perimeter.This was later increased to seven,complete with a number of searchlights.At the principal sentry tower beside the main gate,a guard armed with a sub-machine gun overlooked the inner compound,the camp inner guardroom and the visitors'boxes.Towers at the north-east and northwest corners were staffed with sentries armed with .303 rifles.By November 1958 the number of internees had dropped to 121.The camp closed in 1959.
On the 9 July 1957 a convoy of 3 lorries and 4 patrol cars transferred 30 internees from the Bridwell to the Curragh Camp.Due to the disrepair of the Tintown site they were temporarily detained in the Glasshouse.Though out the day bedding and blankets were delivered to the Curragh.Meanwhile the army were erecting barbed wire barriers and sentry towers in the compound that housed Germans during WW2.Later that day another convoy containing 26 prisoners arrived.
When the Tintown camp was deemed fit for use the Internees were transferred there, from the Glasshouse.Commandant Carl O'Sullivan was appointed 'camp commandant'.
By September 109 individuals were interned in the Curragh-peaking at 152 the following June.The huts were described by internee Tony Hayde just like the kind 'you'd see in films of the last war'.
The compound was surrounded by six fences of barbed wire.A seventh fence was placed 50 yards out on the Curragh plain to prevent local people coming too close.
Within the camp itself ,the internees were housed in three of four dormitory style huts.That had a rotating occupancy to facilitate frequent searches of the vacated huts.Next to the entrance was the dining hall,then a recreation hut.At one end of this hut was a sub-branch of the Kildare County library.Across a rough roadway from the line of dormitory huts stood the ablutions building and a chapel,leaving a long open strip for recreation.
Initially,the camp was supervised by four main sentry towers on the perimeter.This was later increased to seven,complete with a number of searchlights.At the principal sentry tower beside the main gate,a guard armed with a sub-machine gun overlooked the inner compound,the camp inner guardroom and the visitors'boxes.Towers at the north-east and northwest corners were staffed with sentries armed with .303 rifles.By November 1958 the number of internees had dropped to 121.The camp closed in 1959.
