Overview
In the winter of 1920–21, Abercorn Barracks at Ballykinler held more than 2,000 republican internees from all thirty-two counties – among them Seán Lemass, a future Taoiseach, and Peadar Kearney, who wrote the words of the national anthem. That internment camp is what put this otherwise quiet corner of County Down on the map. The site, also called Ballykinlar Camp, is still here, though it is a restricted military site and you can’t get into it.
Ballykinler is a village of a few hundred people on the Lecale Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, about 12 km south-west of Downpatrick, set among low drumlins and marshes with the Mourne Mountains rising behind Dundrum Bay. The shoreline, not the history, is what most people come for.
The coast walk and the beaches
The public coastal stop here is Tyrella Beach, a separate beach near the village. Use the designated entrance and the designated car park, and check posted charges. The RNLI publishes lifeguard information, so check the season, conditions and signs before going into the water. The local visitor guide lists parking and facilities.
Both the beach and its dunes are a designated Area of Special Scientific Interest. Beaches like this can get busy on a bank holiday, so come early or out of season if you want it to yourself. A few kilometres along the bay at Dundrum, Murlough National Trust reserve protects a 6,000-year-old dune system.
The Ministry of Defence controls the land and shoreline ranges around the camp. Keep out of the barracks and restricted ranges, observe warning signs and barriers, and use only clearly designated public routes. The Ministry of Defence publishes advice on access to military land.
The barracks and its history
A rifle range went in here around 1900 to ready troops for the Boer War, and the camp grew into one of the largest military building projects in British history during the First World War; by 1917 nearly 4,000 convalescing soldiers were stationed at Ballykinler. The internment camp came next: during the War of Independence the site became Ireland’s first mass internment camp, and life inside was busier than you’d expect – prisoners ran an orchestra, drew cartoons and circulated handmade cardboard ‘camp tokens’.
In the Second World War the barracks trained British and American forces, with American GIs and a group of Maltese refugees among those housed here; German prisoners of war helped with construction work on the grounds. The camp stayed in military use through the Troubles, and its closure was announced in 2014, though the MoD keeps the surrounding firing ranges for training.
You can’t visit the barracks, so the place to get inside the story is Down County Museum in Downpatrick. In 2019 it opened the Ballykinlar History Hut, a replica of one of the camp’s timber Armstrong huts, built with EU funding of about €238,871, which tells the stories of the soldiers, internees and refugees who passed through. Check what is currently on display before you go. The local museum’s history of the camp describes the experiences of people held there.
The village
The Irish name is Baile Coinnleora, ‘townland of the candles’: at the Norman conquest of Ulster around 1177 the settlement was called Lesscummalscig, and its tithes later went to Christ Church, Dublin to pay for wax candles. The village itself is small, with a few local amenities and sports pitches. Ballykinlar GAA, the local Gaelic football club, was founded in 1932; its grounds are named for Tadhg Barry, the Cork nationalist, trade unionist and journalist. The railway is long gone: Ballykinlar Halt opened in March 1915 and closed on 16 January 1950.
Getting there and practical notes
Ballykinler is easiest by car on the A2 coastal road. Public transport is limited, so check current bus services from Downpatrick before you travel. Use the designated car park for Tyrella Beach and check posted charges; parking inside the barracks perimeter is for authorised MoD use only. Visitor facilities are limited, so check the local visitor guide and bring what you need.
Observe warning signs and barriers around the ranges, stick to marked public routes and stay off range land.
Nearby stops
- Ardglass – a fishing village a short drive north, with a medieval castle and one of Ireland’s oldest coastal golf links at Ardglass Golf Club.
- Dundrum – along the bay, for Murlough’s dunes and the Norman keep at Dundrum Castle.
- Castlewellan – forest park with a lake, arboretum and the famous peace maze.
- Tollymore Forest Park – riverside walks and ornamental stone gates at the foot of the Mournes.
To see the barracks story without a fence in the way, time a trip with Down County Museum in Downpatrick and check ahead for what is on display.