The Magazine Fort, Dublin's bastion fort and magazine, dates back to the 18th-century. It was built of brick and limestone in 1735, when the Duke of Dorset directed that a powder magazine be provided for Dublin.
It stands on St Thomas' Hill, on the site of Phoenix Lodge which was built by Sir Edward Fisher in 1611. By the mid-17th century, Fisher's house and lands were returned to the state, and the house used as the seat of the Lord Deputy of Ireland until it was demolished in 1734. In 1735, construction on the "new" magazine fort commenced in 1735 to designs by engineer John Corneille.
"Now's here's a proof of Irish sense / Here Irish wit is seen / When nothing's left that's worth defence / We build a Magazine" — Jonathan Swift, c.1737
In 1801, an additional wing was added to the fort for the accommodation of troops. And in 1830, the larger earthwork star fort that stood close by (built by De Burgh c. 1710) was demolished.
I was occupied by British Armed Forces until 1922 when it was turned over to the Irish Defence Forces after the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
The Irish Army continued to operate the site as an ammunition store until it was fully demilitarised in the 1980s.
