History
The site was acquired from Clotworthy Skeffington, 11th Viscount Massereene for a shooting range in 1893. [1] In 1942, during the Second World War, the Admiralty commissioned a torpedo factory there such that Mark 8 torpedoes could be manufactured in the factory and then tested on Lough Neagh. [2] After the War the site became the Royal Naval Armaments Depot Antrim. [3] 33 Independent Field Squadron Royal Engineers arrived at the barracks in July 1974 [4] and, after 33 Independent Field Squadron was absorbed into 25 Regiment Royal Engineers, that regiment took over the barracks in 1992. [5]
The site was subsequently handed over to the Royal Marines and, from 1993, it was used as a base for the Royal Marine vessels Grey Wolf and Grey Fox which were deployed in counter terrorism and police operations on Lough Neagh and inshore waterways in Northern Ireland; [6] the barracks were the subject of considerable further development in 1998. [7]
The site then passed to the British Army and became the home of 38 Engineer Regiment in July 2008. [8] On 7 March 2009, two off-duty British soldiers of the regiment were shot dead outside the barracks. [9] [10] Two other soldiers and two civilian delivery men were also shot and wounded during the mass shooting. A dissident Irish republican paramilitary group, the Real IRA, claimed responsibility. [11] [12] After 38 Engineer Regiment moved to RAF Aldergrove in 2010, [13] the barracks were demolished and the site sold to Randox Laboratories in December 2013 for use as a science park. [14]
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