Mahon Road Barracks | |
---|---|
Portadown, Northern Ireland | |
March past at Mahon Road Barracks | |
Coordinates | 54°24′22″N6°27′16″W / 54.40603°N 6.45441°W Coordinates: 54°24′22″N6°27′16″W / 54.40603°N 6.45441°W |
Type | Barracks |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Operator | |
Site history | |
Built | 1972 |
In use | 1972-2007 |
Garrison information | |
Occupants | 11th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment |
The Mahon Road Barracks was a military installation in Portadown, Northern Ireland.
The barracks were built on the Mahon Road in Portadown in 1972 to accommodate the 11th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment and were originally dubbed "Fort Mahon". [1] In February 1974 the barracks also became the Headquarters for 3rd Infantry Brigade where the brigade's units included, along with Brigade Staff, 174 (Provost) Company, Royal Military Police. [2]
The barracks were also the home of G Squadron, 22nd SAS Regiment and were the centre of many of their operations in Northern Ireland including the interception of eight members of a Provisional Irish Republican Army team at Loughgall RUC Barracks in 1987; [3] G Squadron operated under the working name of 4 Field Survey Troop, Royal Engineers. [4]
3rd brigade was moved to Drumadd Barracks in Armagh in 1988 during a restructuring of land forces in Northern Ireland. [5] In July 2000 the barracks were used by the security forces during the Drumcree conflict. [6]
The barracks were closed in January 2007. [7] The adjacent site to the South has since been marketed as a private housing development under the name "Maghon Park". [8]
Leuchars Station is a British Army installation located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, near to the historic town of St Andrews.
The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements, their official role was the "defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage" but unlike troops from Great Britain they were never used for "crowd control or riot duties in cities". It was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, formed with seven battalions plus another four added within two years.
Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, County Antrim, is the headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland and its 38th (Irish) Brigade.
The Royal Irish Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was founded in 1992 through the amalgamation of the Royal Irish Rangers and the Ulster Defence Regiment. Their oldest predecessor; the 27th Regiment of Foot; was first raised in June 1689 to fight in the Williamite War in Ireland. Other notable regiments in their lineage include the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Rifles and the Royal Irish Fusiliers.
The Royal Irish Rangers was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army with a relatively short existence, formed in 1968 and later merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form the Royal Irish Regiment.
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The 3rd Infantry Brigade was a Regular Army infantry brigade of the British Army, part of the 1st Infantry Division. Originally formed in 1809, during the Peninsular War, the brigade had a long history, seeing action in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, and during both World War I and World War II.
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The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is a dispute over yearly parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The town is mainly Protestant and hosts numerous Protestant/loyalist marches each summer, but has a significant Catholic minority. The Orange Order insists that it should be allowed to march its traditional route to and from Drumcree Church on the Sunday before the Twelfth of July. However, most of this route is through the mainly Catholic/Irish nationalist part of town. The residents, who see the march as sectarian, triumphalist and supremacist, have sought to ban it from their area. The Orangemen see this as an attack on their traditions; they had marched the route since 1807, when the area was mostly farmland.
2nd Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment was formed in 1970 as part of the seven original battalions specified in the Ulster Defence Regiment Act 1969, which received Royal Assent on 18 December 1969 and was brought into force on 1 January 1970. It was, along with the rest of the regiment, amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers in 1992 to form the Royal Irish Regiment. It had previously been amalgamated in 1991 with the 11th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment to form the 2nd/11th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment.
The 11th (Craigavon) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment was formed from companies of the 2nd Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment and the 3rd Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment in 1972. In 1991 under the reductions planned in Options for Change by the British Army, it again amalgamated with 2 UDR to form the 2nd/11th Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment.
Land Command was a military command and part of the structure of the British Army from 1995 to 2008. Its headquarters was at Erskine Barracks, at Fugglestone St Peter, some four kilometres northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire.
Shackleton Barracks is a former British military installation at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland.
Drumadd Barracks is a former military installation in Armagh, Northern Ireland.
This is the structure of the British Army in 1989.