Nostalgia- Armagh's Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum gets £207,000 Heritage Lottery Fund boost
The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum in Armagh is to undergo a major facelift after receiving £207,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which will be spent on new displays, improved disabled access and enhanced storage and retail space.
First reported in 1999
The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum in Armagh is to undergo a major facelift after receiving cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The announcement came on Christmas Eve and, subject to agreement on a detailed plan, the Museum will receive the grand sum of £207,000. It is termed a ‘Stage ‘One’ approval, meaning that the project is likely to receive support and may progress to ‘Stage Two’ and a final Trustees’ decision.
The money will be spent on providing new displays, improving disabled access and enhancing storage and retail space in the Museum.
The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum was originally created in the 1930s and was one of the few museums of its kind in Northern Ireland at that time. It is housed in a two-storey Georgian building at Mall East.
The collection at the Museum is considered to be one of the rarest and best preserved of Militaria in Ireland. It includes early artefacts from the Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan militias, with material dating from 1793.
It includes two World War One Victoria Crosses, a rare 1812 89th Foot Regiment tunic and some rare militia colours and a rare 1793 8th Foot Regiment tunic - of which there are only four known examples.
The Museum also has an important collection of medals and silver and an exceptional archive , including personal accounts and dairies, regimental journals and an important pictorial collection.
The Museum was forced to rebuild in recent years after the 1993 bomb attack outside Armagh Courthouse. Extensive damage was caused at that time and many of the artefacts had to be taken for repair before the Museum reopened.