Friday 1 August 2014

Military Archives: maps & drawings ready for scrutiny

Some 2,200 barrack maps, plans and drawings have been added to the resources available at the Military Archives Reading Room.

These visuals are part of the Military Barracks Maps, Plans and Drawings Collection which holds details relating to the construction and maintenance of military barracks in Ireland from c1830 to c1980. The collection contains many previously unseen architectural drawings from the British War Office, the Royal Engineer Corps, the Ordnance Survey and the (Irish) Defence Forces Engineer Corps.

This is the second release from this collection. The first saw a sample of 650 images made available on the Military Archives website when it first launched (they can be viewed here). This latest additional material, available only in the Reading Room, provides a fully searchable, hyperlinked database of 3,400 individual sheets, most dating from the major period of barracks construction in the mid to late 19th century. These documents are viewed on a large monitor, which allows for full panning and zooming across the images.

The Reading Room is at Military Archives, Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin 6. You need an appointment (telephone 00 353 (0)1 804 6457). Opening hours are 10am to 4pm, Tuesday to Thursday.