The Glencree Peace Organisation History

Place and Purpose: Our History

The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation was founded in 1974 as a response to violent conflict in Irish society, and in light of a conviction that there must be a better way than violence and vandalism, intolerance and sectarianism. A spirit of commitment to these ideals inspired the foundation of the Centre and continues to motivate its varied activities of peace training and peace making.

Following a particularly horrifying outbreak of bombing in Belfast, in 1972, a number of people and groups met in Dublin to protest against the atrocities being carried out in the name of Irish people and to voice the grave concern felt by the public at large at the escalating violence. However, concern was not enough. Individuals and peace groups involved soon recognised that reconciliation was the key and that what was needed was a common base from which to spearhead an effective and non-violent approach to the urgent issues both north and south. As a result of their determination to act on their concern, the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation was founded.

 The oldest structures at Glencree date from the late eighteenth century, when a military barracks was erected to deter Irish rebellion against British rule. Between the middle years of the nineteenth century and the middle years of the twentieth century, Glencree was occupied by a Catholic religious order which ran it as a boy’s reformatory. Thereafter, it was much neglected and its buildings decayed. The old buildings at Glencree were made available by the government and a large overdraft was then arranged in order that essential works of renovation could be undertaken. These were completed in 2000.

Since its founding Glencree has been the scene of important events and projects. They have been wide-ranging in their scope, including in the fields of education, recreation, fund-raising, work camps and hosting the flow of visitors.

In 1985 Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation marked the completion of its first decade with the publication of an anniversary booklet, "The First Ten Years", reviewing its work during that period. Click here to read a text transcription of the booklet ( pdf document 134 K ).

The Glencree Barracks History

The Origins of the Glencree Barracks

The Glencree Barracks was the direct result of over a decade of chronic instability in Ireland. The birth of Irish republicanism during the French Wars of 1793 to 1815 gravely threatened the security of the British and Irish establishment, the Anglo-Irish (Church of Ireland) Ascendancy. Their rule was deemed to represent only the interests of their class to the detriment of the majority population. The oppressive "penal laws", including those limiting their right to vote and to sit in parliament, discriminated against Catholics and Presbyterians. The Irish parliament was also considered to be unduly influenced by London.

The French Revolution

Many patriots sympathised with the colonists of British North America who rose in revolt in 1775 against imperial tyranny. Trade and personal links between Ireland and America ensured that concepts such as democracy and personal rights were raised in Dublin and Belfast. Social inequality and a colonial-like regime in Ireland became increasingly intolerable to advocates of reform in the light of the French Revolution of July 1789.

Wolfe Tone

The Society of United Irishmen was founded in Belfast and Dublin in late 1791 to unite Protestants. Catholics and Dissenters (Presbyterians) desiring democracy and emancipation Some Northern Presbyterians were fearful of extending political rights to Catholics but were reassured by Theobald Wolfe Tone that Catholics were capable of responsible government. The key element of the Society's thinking was the separation of Ireland from Britain's sphere of influence. In 1793 Tone went to France via America and attempted to convince the Paris Directory to invade Ireland. In 1796 a 1,200-strong French invasion force arrived in County Cork to assist the United Irishmen, catching the government unprepared. However, bad weather prevented the French from landing.

Rebellion and Aftermath in County Wicklow

General Humbert landed with 1,000 French veterans on August 23 1798 and defeated numerically stronger Anglo-Irish forces at Collooney and Castlebar. Joseph Holt's guerrillas in Wicklow were the only sizeable body of rebels in the field when the French arrived, waging a ruthless war against loyalists and the military. The threat they posed was underlined by their capture of Aughrim on September 19.

Amnesty and attrition reduced their numbers so steadily that their resistance was not viable by the winter. Holt brought the rebellion to a close by surrendering at Powerscourt on November 10, 1798. The Insurrection Act was widely used to quell Republicanism in Ireland. Hundreds of suspects were killed, conscripted or transported overseas. Wicklow's 14,000 United Irishmen was the largest force in Leinster. One-fifth of the county was Protestant. Church of Ireland friends and neighbours fought alongside their Catholic friends.

To the south and on the coast, the town of Arklow was the site of a battle on June 9. More than 1,000 rebels died assaulting well-prepared government positions. This was a turning point of the rebellion, because on June 25, six strongpoints were completely destroyed by the rebels partly in response to the atrocities of government forces.

Military Road and Barracks

Survivors of the insurrection sought refuge in the mountains. The construction of a military road through the Wicklow Mountains was first suggested in the 1580s when the Elizabethan Administration of the "Pale" experienced difficulty suppressing the "Tory" fighters of the O'Bvrne and O'Toole septs. Construction of the road began in 1800 through parts of the county "infested with insurgent plunderers". The road commenced from Rathfarnham in Dublin to Killakee and continued over the Featherbed Mountain to Glencree, where a major camp was formed. There were four work parties of fifty men each. Soldiers were paid a shilling a day and overseers earned five shillings daily; but very few local civilians could be induced to accept work and no "dependence" was placed on those that did.

In early 1802, Earl Hardwicke sent 100 militiamen and 75 Highlanders to advance the project. Work continued until late 1809 when in excess of £14,000 had been spent. By then, the strategic value of the project had diminished, because of the destruction of French naval power at Trafalgar and the shift in emphasis to coastal defenses. In late 1803, five barracks were built to ensure that the road would not fall into local insurgent hands or to foreign enemies.

Glencree Barracks

This was one of the smaller buildings, designed to accommodate a captain and 100 soldiers. When it was completed in 1806, 75 men were housed there. By that time, some £26,000 had been invested in the five barracks, which like the military road became wholly obsolete in 1815 when the Napoleonic Wars ended.

St. Kevin's Reformatory School

In the 1850s, Ireland was just recovering from the Great Famine. Poverty and deprivation were widespread, and young people and children suffered greatly. In desperation, many of them fell foul of the laws of the time regarding stealing food, vagrancy, etc.  A high increase in such juvenile "crime" and in the number of children in prison led to a public outcry. The British government responded by passing the Irish Reformatory Schools Act in 1858, extending to Ireland the system that prevailed in England. Lord Powerscourt, then owner of the land of Glencree, offered a lease on the abandoned barracks. The religious order, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), agreed to establish St. Kevin's Reformatory there. The first superior, Fr. Francis Lynch, took over Glencree in 1858, and rebuilt the property to house upwards of 300 boys. They toiled hard to reclaim and cultivate more than 100 acres of land. Apart from working on the land, they received some basic education and skills training.

All supplies had to be brought over the Military Road, which was frequently blocked by snowdrifts during the winter. As the number of inmates increased, several buildings were erected over the years, including a dormitory 306 feet long. The boys were sickly, undernourished and in bad health when they arrived at the reformatory. In 1870, one young offender (sentenced for the crime of “petty larceny”) died from exposure on the Featherbed Mountain on the way to Glencree through heavy snowdrifts. He was barefoot and dressed in rags.

Few records are currently available for this long, sad chapter in Glencree’s history. We can only assume that, despite the training, food and exercise provided to the boys, life was harsh and brutal for the most part. The reformatory closed it doors in 1940, when staff and boys moved to Daingean Industrial School, Co. Offaly. The complex then served for a brief time as an Oblate novitiate before passing into the ownership of the Minister of Supply.

Operation Shamrock

From 1945 to 1950 at the end of World War 2, under the auspices of the Irish Red Cross, Glencree became a temporary Refugee Centre. The French Sisters of Charity looked after thousands of German and Polish war orphans on UN sponsored three-month rest programmes or en route to longer-stay fostering in Irish homes.

The German Military Cemetery, Glencree

Next to the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, in a landscaped quarry, is a stark reminder of the vast scale of the Second World War.  This is the German Military Cemetery, containing 134 bodies.  It is one of the many German war cemeteries in Western Europe.  The quarry itself was owned by Lord Powerscourt, and it probably first came into use to supply building material for the nearby Glencree military barracks in 1803 (now the Visitor Centre).

Although a neutral country on the edge of the main battlefields, Ireland did not entirely escape the direct effects of the war. Some of the Germans killed in action over Ireland resulted from causes such as aircrafts getting lost in foul weather or crashing as a result of damage in action over England.  Running out of fuel and navigational errors from inexperience also caused fatalities.  These Luftwaffe (Air force) personnel are all buried in Glencree.  Interred here also are a number of regular naval personnel (Kriegmarine) whose bodies were found washed up, sometimes in remote coastal locations.  Fifty three of the air and naval service men buried in Glencree have identities while twenty eight others will never be known.

Those who engaged in the ‘secret side of war’ are also buried here.  Dr. Hermann Gortz, who took his own life to avoid arrest as a spy was buried in Glencree.  He is the only person who also has an individual memorial.  Set at the back of the graveyard it is a finely carved stone relief. 

The dead are not entirely confined to World War II.  Six soldiers of the First World War are also interred.  These soldiers died while prisoners in a British prisoner of war camp located in Ireland in 1915-18.

Set on a height above the cemetery is a fine Celtic type high cross.  A poem set in polished stone close by the entrance articulates the poignancy of Glencree.  These words are by Professor Stan O’Brien, a dedicated supporter of the Irish German Society.  Through the wrought iron gates the pathway leads to the ‘Hall of Honour’, a place of reflection and prayer.  A mosaic Pieta, designed by Berlz, the Munich born painter decorates the interior wall.  Just beyond the Hall the gravestones are laid out in eight slightly curving arcs.

German Remembrance Day is commemorated each November at Glencree. Click here for more information.