Overview
The barracks is named after a man who lost the bridge and his life on it. In the 1691 siege of Athlone, Sergeant Custume of the Jacobite garrison and a party of men tried to hold the Shannon crossing against the Williamite advance and were killed in the attempt; when the Irish Free State took the barracks over in 1922, it was renamed in his honour. Custume Barracks (Dún Chostúim) sits on the east bank of the Shannon in Athlone, County Westmeath, and is still a fully working base – home to the 6th Infantry Battalion, the 2nd Brigade Artillery Regiment and attached units. That means the grounds are fenced and the interior is off-limits most of the time, but there is one good way in.
Getting inside: the summer tours
If you want more than a photograph of the clock tower, come on a summer Friday. Free guided tours of the barracks set off from Athlone Castle at 3.45pm, first come, first served, and places are limited – so it is worth ringing Athlone Castle ahead on (090) 6442130 or emailing info@athlonecastle.ie to check the tour is running and turn up early. Outside those tours you are looking at the exterior only, which the next sections are about.
History
The 1691 siege and Sergeant Custume
Athlone’s bridge was the reason armies fought over the town: it was one of the few crossings of the middle Shannon. After the Williamites took the town in 1691, a cluster of wooden huts went up on the west bank to house cavalry and infantry, and that camp became the seed of the permanent barracks, established by the late 1690s. It is often described as the oldest continuously occupied barracks in Europe, a claim worth taking with the usual pinch of salt but a fair reflection of how long soldiers have been quartered here.
The Georgian barracks and the 1922 handover
As Athlone’s military importance grew, the timber gave way to stone. The centrepiece is the long range built around 1810: twenty-three bays, two storeys of coursed limestone, and a four-storey pedimented clock tower of dressed ashlar rising over the river. The repetition of well-proportioned windows makes the block read almost as five separate buildings under one roof. A water gate of about 1852 once let boats in from the Shannon, and the gateway on Grace Road was put up in 1932 using stone from a dismantled caponier. The British knew the place as Victoria Barracks until 1922, when General Seán MacEoin took the handover and gave it Custume’s name.
The Cold War bunker
Under the parade ground is a stranger layer. In the 1960s an underground nuclear bunker was built to serve as a command post in the event of an attack – room for up to 100 people, with a communications set-up said to include a direct hotline to Whitehall. In 1968 the Department of Defence and the Office of Public Works drew up plans for a far larger Integrated National Control Centre, meant to hold 300 people, but it was never built as Cold War tensions eased.
What you can see today
From the public promenade along the river you can take in most of the exterior:
- The clock tower: the four-storey landmark that has marked the riverbank for over two centuries.
- The Georgian range: segmental-headed doorcases, fanlights and sash windows of the early 1800s.
- The Jadotville monument: a stone memorial unveiled in December 2022 to the families of ‘A’ Company, 35th Infantry Battalion, the Irish soldiers besieged at Jadotville during the 1961 UN mission in the Congo.
- The photographic exhibition: unveiled in the Officers’ Mess on 18 September 2025, covering the 1922 handover, the historic buildings and notable personnel; public viewing dates are announced by the Defence Forces from time to time.
The riverfront promenade is the best spot for a photograph of the façade and tower – level, open and clear of any security line.
Practical information
- Access: the interior is not open for casual visits; the summer Friday tour from Athlone Castle is the way in, and the exterior is free to view from the public promenade any time.
- Events: occasional exhibitions and commemorations are held on-site and announced by the Defence Forces, sometimes needing advance registration.
- Accessibility: the riverside walkway is level and wheelchair-friendly.
- Dogs: leashed dogs are fine on the promenade and around the town centre.
Getting there and around Athlone
Athlone sits on the M6, so the barracks is easy to reach by car; from the town centre follow signs for Grace Road and the river, and it is just east of the main bridge. The traffic-free option is the Old Rail Trail greenway, which runs to the river. Bus and rail both serve Athlone town centre, a short walk from the promenade.
The barracks is one stop on a good half-day in Athlone. Across the bridge is Athlone Castle, the same building the summer tours leave from. Further out lie the 18th-century gardens of Belvedere House, the mythic Hill of Uisneach and Kilbeggan Distillery, Ireland’s oldest working pot-still distillery. For the exterior at its best, come to the promenade near sunrise or dusk, when the low light picks out the limestone and the clock tower stands sharp against the sky.