The Curragh Camp () is an army base and military college in The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It is the main training centre for the Irish Defence Forces and is home to 2,000 military personnel. History Longstanding military heritage The Curragh has historically been a military assembly area, owing to the wide expanse of plain. In 1599 Henry Harvey noted "a better place for the deploying of an Army I never beheld." However, the Curragh's history goes further back; it is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters that Lóegaire Lorc, the king of Ireland, was slain on the Curragh by Cobthach Cóel Breg. 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 Irish Volunteers raised to assist in the defence of the country while Great Britain 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: Crimean War and establishment of Curragh Camp There were numerous training camps organised on the Curragh in the nineteenth century including the training of militia to defend the UK during the Napoleonic Wars. However, the first permanent military structures were designed and built from 1855 by British soldiers of the Corps of Royal Engineers in relation to the Crimean War. These structures for 10,000 infantry were wooden in character but the camp did have its own post office, a fire station, ten barracks, two churches, a water pumping station, a court house and a clock tower. Events and routines in 19th-century camp In 1861, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited to inspect troops, including their son (Edward VII—the then Prince of Wales)—who was serving at the camp. A great troop review was held for the visit and an album of the occasion can be found in the Royal Archive at Windsor Castle. The first of the "modern" barracks (Beresford Barracks) was built at the camp in 1879, and six new barracks were subsequently constructed through the start of the 20th century. The names of the barracks that were built by the British Army were Ponsonby Barracks, Stewart Barracks, A.S.C Barracks, Engineer Barracks, Gough Barracks and Keane Barracks. By