Thiepval Barracks

Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, County Antrim, is the headquarters of the British Army in Northern Ireland and its 38th (Irish) Brigade. In August 2008, 19th Light Brigade moved into Thiepval Barracks from Catterick, North Yorkshire. The barracks is named after the village of Thiepval in Northern France, an important site in the Battle of the Somme (1916) and site of the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

The Army's Belfast Regional Command corresponds to the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Belfast Region.

On October 7 1996 the Provisional Irish Republican Army penetrated the heavily fortified base to detonate two car bombs. The first detonated at 15:35 GMT followed by the second around ten minutes later close to the base's medical facilities where victims were gathering. Warrant Officer James Bradwell (43) was killed and 21 soldiers and 10 civilians were injured. This bombing was the first major attack on a military base since the ending of the IRA's ceasefire on February 9 1996 when it exploded a device at Canary Wharf.

Demilitarisation, a key demand of republicans in the peace process, will not see the closure of Thiepval Barracks. It will be one of 14 bases to remain if the full plan for the draw-down of military forces is implemented. Personnel levels will drop to 5,000 from around 12,000 (this from a height of nearly 30,000 during the height of the troubles).

Thiepval Barracks is also home to BFBS radio in Northern Ireland with the station BFBS Lisburn transmitting across the city of Lisburn on 100.6FM

The Cold War

Between 1954 and 1992 Lisburn contained the operational headquarters of No 31 Belfast Group Royal Observer Corps who operated from a protected nuclear bunker on Knox Road within Thiepval Barracks. Converted from a 1940s Anti-aircraft Operations Room (AAOR) the bunker would support over one hundred ROC volunteers and a ten man United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation warning team responsible for the famous Four-minute warning in the event of a nuclear strike on the UK. The ROC would also detect radioactive fallout from the nuclear bursts and warn the public of approaching fallout.

The two organisations were stood down in 1992 at the end of the Cold War. In 2007 a commemorative plaque was mounted on the wall of the nuclear bunker which still stands, marking the volunteer service of ROC volunteers all over the Province. The well known BBC newsreader, TV personality and steam railway enthusiast "Sullivan Boomer" was an Observer Commander in the ROC and served as Group Commandant of the Belfast group during the 1970s and 1980s.