The Old Barracks Cahersiveen County Kerry Ireland cover photo - 177393337

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This is a picture of the Old Barracks in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, Ireland. The Old Barracks serves as a Heritage Centre for the Iveragh Peninsula. The history of the Heritage Centre or Old Barracks is fascinating. The building was constructed between the years of 1870 and 1875 as a police station for the Royal Irish Constabulary. barracks4The authorities wanted an imposing building to protect the Irish end of the transatlantic telegraph cable which entered the sea at Valentia Island. The Old World and New World were connected at last and the authorities did not want the humiliating situation of an uprising cutting that link. In fact only one year after the cable had been laid in 1866 there was an ill fated uprising in Cahersiveen by the Fenians. The British authorities were so anxious to get the barracks built that the plans were mixed up in the haste to get the building constructed that we have a building that was originally designed for the Punjab in India! Somewhere in the Punjab there is a town with a barracks or police station that was designed for Cahersiveen. Unfortunately this story is probably incorrect. The British commissioned the architect Enoch Trevor-Owen to design the building and the Schloss style of architecture was popular with Trevor-Owen.