Curragh Camp

The Curragh Camp (Irish: Campa an Churraigh) is an army base and military college located in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Irish Army.

History

Longstanding military heritage

The Curragh has historically been a military assembly area due to the wide expanse of plain. Henry Harvey in 1599, during the Elizabethan wars noted "a better place for the deploying of an Army I never beheld." However, the Curragh's history goes further back being mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters where Laeghaire Lore, the king of Ireland, was slain on the Curragh by Cobhthach Cael Breagh.

Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel chose the Curragh as a muster point for the cause of James II during the Williamite War in Ireland. In 1783, a review of the Volunteers raised to assist in the defence of the country while England was at war with America held on the Curragh attracted upwards of 50,000 spectators.

It was also a muster point during the 1798 Rebellion and was mentioned in the Irish peasant song The Sean-Bhean bhocht. As translated by Padraic Colum in 1922: