Ballincollig - From Boom to Bust and Back again

Well, sometimes you just have to start with a bang, or in this case with a device that delivers them. This artillery piece forms the centrepiece of Barrack Square, my workplace for well over a year now, since my departure from Apple in early 2016. And let me tell you, the difference between my former workplace in the extreme northwest of Cork City, hemmed in between a social  black spot and a half abandoned industrial estate, and the small town, suburban atmosphere of Ballincollig couldn’t be any bigger.

No, I haven’t completely lost my marbles, and yes this is a bit of an esoteric topic, especially for those who don’t live in the Cork metro area. Still, despite its apparent obscurity, Ballincollig has quite a bit of history on offer, both in actual historic terms, and in recent terms, especially with regards to the crippling economic crisis of 2008. What’s more, quite a bit of the history of the town is actually incorporated into the current urban landscape. So all in all, there’s quite a bit to write about.

But let’s take this step by step. The early history of Ballincollig is uneventful. In the 13th century, a small keep was built that gave the place its name. Apart from that, it was nothing more than a few houses and farmsteads. It was in 1794 when things got interesting. That year, Charles Henry Leslie, a Cork based businessman, bought some land near the river Lee in order to set up a gunpowder mill. The timing was a bit of a mixed bag however, as it was only four years later, in 1798, that the Irish started yet another of their uprisings against British rule. While that rising was violently suppressed by the British, as one would expect, the military authorities in Ireland realised just how vital the gunpowder mills in Ballincollig were, and that they needed to be protected. Consequently, work on a military barracks in Ballincollig was started in 1806. Two years prior to that, Leslie had leased the gunpowder mills out to the British government. 

Now that's what I call an office with a view - This overlooks the Lee Valley and part of the old gunpowder mills.

Speaking of the mills, the site, now Ballincollig Regional Park, is still covered with buildings from that era.

It would really be helpful to somehow put signs on them to explain what their function was.

The manufacture of explosives is a risky business. They're called explosives for a reason. That's why the old gunpowder mills covered a pretty vast area. In the event of an industrial accident, and there were quite a few of those, the damage would be limited to one area and not take out the entire site.

Once again, more signage would go a long way towards making the site more interesting.

Bridges and walkways like this were built to make the park more accessible.

That being said, the proximity of the river causes the site to be prone to flooding. Large parts of the park had to be repaired or rebuilt just a few years ago after some devastating floods.

This looks like a pair of administration buildings but once again, the lack of signage makes it difficult to tell.

The base became operational in 1810, with the transfer of the 7th and 9th batteries of the British Royal Artillery, which gave the barracks their name, and laid the foundation for a military tradition that would span almost two hundred years. At the same time, both the gunpowder mills and the barracks were enclosed by a stone wall, the remnants of which can be seen in the town right up until the present. Both the barracks and the mills became major employers in the region, and gunpowder from Ballincollig was used throughout the Napoleonic campaigns. Such was the impact of the two installations that the Great Famine of 1847 to 1852 was nowhere near as devastating in Ballincollig as it was in other areas of the country. That doesn’t say much, though, as the famine was still a traumatic time no matter where you were in Ireland. Then, in 1866, Ballincollig was connected to the network of the Cork and Macroom Railway, which provided a direct connection all the way to the Port of Cork.

The old base HQ, at least that's what I presume this thing is judging from its location, now houses offices, and is a centrepiece of Barrack Square

It is flanked by more contemporary buildings.

While the architecture may hint at the area's past...

...it is only from above that the layout of the former barracks becomes obvious.

Still, they did a pretty good job converting this into a modern office park.

The former gun store and stables still stand empty, after being caught up in the 2008 economic crash.

That being said, a newspaper article from earlier this year stated that this building had been sold to the Church of Ireland. From cannon to canon, eh?

The former officers mess has been turned into the local medical centre.

Situated right in front of the shopping centre, the old carriage house has since been taken over in its entirety by US coffeehouse chain Starbucks. Quite a nice place to work actually, parts of this article were written there.

The same building viewed from the Main Street, with parts of the old wall and gates.

This archway is the western gate to the old barracks.

Then, in 1903, it all flew apart. Not because of an explosion, although there were quite a few of those in the gunpowder mills, it’s called “explosives” for a reason, after all. The blow was delivered for economic reasons. The gunpowder mills were closed. Significant advances in industrial chemistry and manufacturing processes meant that the Ballincollig operation just wasn’t sustainable anymore. Following Irish independence in 1922, the last remaining British units were withdrawn from Ballincollig. The next blow came in 1935, when passenger services on the Cork and Macroom Railway were suspended. At this point, Ballincollig wasn’t much more than a few houses along Main Street and a few side streets, with a large abandoned military and industrial wasteland to the north of the street. 

Things changed in 1940. World War 2, or the “Emergency”, as it was known in neutral Ireland, made it clear even to the most ardent isolationists that a standing army was necessary, no matter how bad the experiences during the War of Independence or Civil War may have been. The Royal Artillery Barracks were reactivated, and C Company of the 4th Infantry Battalion of the Irish Defence Forces was stationed there, alongside the 31st West Cork Battalion. Later on, the base was renamed Murphy Barracks. Once Ireland left its self-inflicted economic isolation in the 1960s, things began to look up for Ballincollig as well. Its character slowly changed from a small garrison town to a commuter town, attractive both for its bucolic surroundings and its proximity to Cork. In 1974, Cork County Council purchased the grounds of the old gunpowder mills from ICI Nobel, and began to rehabilitate it, and turn it into a recreation area, Ballincollig Regional Park. Little more than a decade later, in 1988, computer storage specialist EMC set up a factory in nearby Ovens, setting Ballincollig off on the route to becoming a tech hub.

Then, in 1998, the long military tradition of Ballincollig came to an end. As part of a reorganisation of the Irish Defence Forces, Murphy Barracks was deactivated, and its last tenant unit, the 1st Field Artillery Regiment, was transferred to Collins Barracks in Cork, where it formed the core of the 1st Brigade Artillery Regiment, which exists to this day. Once again, Murphy Barracks fell into a deep sleep. It was awakened in 2003, when the base was purchased by a private investor with the aim of turning it into a shopping centre, an office park, and a large residential development.

However, it would take far longer than expected for these plans to be realised. Granted, the shopping centre as well as the office park did open in 2005, however a large portion of the 800 apartments planned for the site were still in the planning or construction phase when the Irish economy imploded in 2008. O’Flynn Construction, the driving force behind the project, was one of the victims of the crash. True, US software company VMware had moved into parts of the office park as early as 2007, still, large parts of the project were taken over by NAMA, Ireland’s “bad bank”. Large parts of the residential development, marketed as “the Quadrants” languished as empty shells, and a significant number of the shops in the shopping centre remained empty.

The Shopping Centre has since turned into a central hub for the town

The sculpture in from to it is certainly a matter of taste. And yes, the same can be said for that busker....

The interior is a bit bland, and Dunnes is a bit of a questionable company, still, the centre is now doing pretty well.

The number of empty stalls has also reduced drastically.

Panoramic view of the forecourt of Castle West Shopping

From what I could find, this building next to the old main gate of the barracks used to be a solid fuel store.  In the background, you can see the apartment blocks of the Quadrants.

A closer view of the alleyway into the Quadrants. Most of the apartments are occupied by now, but the shops are still mostly empty.

Panorama view of the central plaza in the Quadrants.

Once again, this picture is a bit outdated. The apartments are mostly let out by now. 

View through the apartments towards the shopping centre...

...and facing the other way towards the barracks proper, and the base HQ building.

Things only began to change in the last few years. The shopping centre was taken over by US real estate investment firm Blackstone in 2014, and work on the remaining apartments within the Quadrants started again in 2016. By the time this article is published, a significant number of these appear to be complete, with most of them occupied. The shopping centre itself was recently re-branded as “Castle West Shopping”, and has only a few empty retail units remaining. Next door, supermarket chain Tesco opened a rather impressive store in 2014. Barrack Square is fully occupied, with five of the seven buildings being used by VMware, who employ over 1000 staff at their Ballincollig site, including yours truly. The former officers mess has been turned into the local medical centre, while the former enclosing wall has turned into a significant, if unobtrusive architectural element in the town. Further west, between the town centre and the EMC factory at Ovens, another office building was developed by the company, now trading as DellEMC. The construction the the N40, the southern ring road around Cork, has removed almost all transit traffic from the town centre, drastically improving conditions there. Rail service never did return though, as the railway line was closed in the 1960s.

However, Ballincollig is not just in great infrastructural shape. Anyone coming to the town from Cork will notice that, while the roads may be in atrocious shape, the town itself is pretty much spotless. This is mainly due to the local tidy towns committee, whose members tirelessly make sure that the sidewalks and public areas are clean, and the houses and lampposts decorated. If you take into consideration that Ballincollig now has 17000 inhabitants, that’s no mean feat. But even apart from that, the social scene in the town is pretty active. Schools, sports clubs, and local theatre groups are all very popular. The 2017 St. Patrick’s Day parade, which I had the chance to attend, was a clear indicator of this, with 44 groups taking part, most of them local.

Of course, DellEMX has their banners at the St. Patrick's Day parade in Ballincollig, even if the stage is a bit improvised ;)

Don't worry, most vehicles in Ballincollig are much more modern than that.

See, I told you they were more modern...

Given its history as a military town, it is no surprise that a delegation of the Defence Forces leads the veterans at the parade.

These veterans are a few of the many soldiers who took part in UN peacekeeping missions over the decades.

An old workhorse of the Defence Forces.

Apart from being an HDR massacre, this indicates the diversity or participants in the St. Patrick's Day parade.

A parade without the fire brigade? No way, not happening!

Of course, Ballincollig profits from its close proximity to Cork, something that is generally overlooked in the heated debates about the redrawing of the boundaries between the city and county of Cork. The town has long since been absorbed into Cork’s commuter belt, and neither DellEMC nor VMware would have set up shop there if it wasn’t for the proximity of Irelands second largest city, with its transport links. Consequently, the economic fate of the town is inextricably linked to that of its larger neighbour. And Yes, Ballincollig also has its black spots, its problem areas, proclaiming anything else would be pathologically naive. However, it would be patently unfair and misleading to simply dismiss Ballincollig as a dormitory town. The town has too many little surprises and quirks, you just need to keep your eyes open for them.

Oh, and as for the artillery piece. It is a Royal Ordnance QF 4.5 inch field howitzer. This gun was one of the standard artillery pieces of the British Royal Artillery from 1909 to 1944, and according to my research, was also in use with the units based in Ballincollig. The Irish Defence Forces introduced this gun in 1925, where it was in use with regular units until 1960. The FCÁ, a weird mixture of reserve force and national guard used the 4.5 inch howitzer until 1976. Both the 1st Field Artillery Regiment and the 8th Reserve Field Artillery Regiment, which were based in Ballincollig, were equipped with this gun.

And yes, even though the breech block has been removed, and the barrel welded closed, it does feel slightly unsettling to have the gun pointed straight at the office block where I work! ;)