WWI Armstrong Hunt on the move

WWI Armstrong Hunt on the move

12 March 2025

A REPLICA First World War Armstrong hut is to be removed from the Down County Museum in Downpatrick.

The move was agreed by Newry, Mourne and Down councillors on Monday night.

The Ballykinlar History Hut Experience was hailed as a major tourist attraction at the museum when it opened with support from the European Union a number of years ago.

But for the past few months,  the council has been seeking a new home for the hut and it was confirmed at a meeting of its Economy, Regeneration and Tourism Committee that a new owner has been found.

The local authority was aiming to identify a suitable organisation to remove and relocate the timber hut to ensure it can continue to be accessed by the public.

A formal notice was published seeking expressions of interest from groups to remove and take ownership of the hut which some felt should remain where it is at the museum given its significant historical interest.

Two expressions of interest were expressed, with politicians agreeing to both.

One respondent expressed an interest in removing the hut and its contents from its current home in the museum courtyard, with council officials asked to agree a work plan paving the way for the hut’s removal.

The second expression of interest focused on digital information associated with the hut with councillors agreeing that museum officials would ensure this is provided.

The hut — which mirrors those which had been in place at Ballykinlar camp —  opened to wide acclaim several years ago at the English Street complex.

The £150,000 replica was made possible with financial support from the European Union and while the structure was always going to be a temporary facility, local politicians have now rubber-stamped a proposal to dismantle and remove it.

The huts were first built to house 4,000 Belfast men training with the 36th (Ulster) Division for active service on the Western Front, including at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916.

The huts later housed 1,800 republican internees who were arrested all over Ireland during the Irish War of Independence in late 1920 and 1921, with the soldiers in 1914 and the internees in 1921 given the same beds, made from three planks, with four army blankets to sleep on.

The original 60ft by 20ft timber huts, clad with corrugated iron, housed evacuees from Malta, American GIs and German prisoners of war during World War Two. They also sheltered Hungarian refugees in 1957, after the Russian invasion of Hungary. 

The last huts were dismantled in Ballykinlar in 2012 when local man Andrew Carlisle recorded how one was built and he saved hundreds of artefacts from the sand underneath and donated them to the Downpatrick museum. 

Despite the hut’s popularity with visitors to the museum, politicians were told some time ago that the structure was “approaching the end of its life cycle” and that formal planning permission for it had expired.

A successful application was made to extend planning approval on the condition that the hut, located in the museum courtyard, would be removed in its entirety, with the land it sits on in the courtyard area in front of the Governor’s Residence restored to its former condition.

The hut’s condition has deteriorated over the past few years, with council officials explaining  while it was designed as a temporary structure, its deterioration has been accelerated due to excess humidity during last autumn and winter.

Council staff worked on the hut recreation for three years, assisted by the Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis at Belfast’s Queen’s University, gathering about 100 stories of people who occupied the huts. 

They say the hut will leave a legacy not only through its removal to another suite within the council area, but artefacts1 which are part of the local museum’s collection will be used in future related displays, articles and other outputs.

It was also confirmed at Monday night’s meeting that the replica hut will be removed at no cost to ratepayers, with any cost associated with reinstating the courtyard area assessed by officers and brought back to the council.