Objects > Royal Ulster Constabulary type 'A' barracks

Description

Photograph of Rostrevor RUC Barracks

Date: c 1930s

Material: paper

Dimensions: 21 x 15 cm

Organisation: Royal Ulster Constabulary

Source: Police Museum

Map of RUC barracks

Date: 1959

Material: paper

Dimensions: 65 x 45 cm

Organisation: Royal Ulster Constabulary

Source: Police Museum

A photograph of the new type 'A' Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) barracks built in the 1930s. The architect T. F. O. Rippingham of the Government of Northern Ireland Works Department created a modular design for RUC stations. Smaller stations, like those in Rafriland and Rostrevor, accommodated one sergeant and four constables. Larger models, like those in Donaghadee and Saintfield were able to facilitate more men. Each white-washed station had a RUC lamp above the main entrance. The second door at the front of the property led into the sergeant’s married quarters. In 1922, the RUC took over 224 Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks located in Northern Ireland. These stations continued to display the RIC crest for several years after partition. In 1936, the RUC began to rationalize and repair their buildings creating a network of 196 police barracks. New white glass lamps with the RUC coat of arms began appearing on stations in Belfast in 1937 and new type ‘A’ stations were built across the country. These barracks continued in use throughout the Troubles when they were reinforced and fortified to withstand increasingly intensive bomb attacks.