the magazine fort phoenix park, eamon mac thomais

The Dublin magazine fort was built in 1735. The fort can be found in the west of Dublin city, north of the River Liffey within Phoenix Park. The building is located in the south-eastern part of the park, close by a wooded ridge. It has a commanding view of the surrounding area.
During the British occupation of the area, the Fort had been seen as a symbol of that occupation but by 1939 its purpose was to house the Irish Army's stocks of guns and ammunition.
The magazine fort seems to serve no useful purpose, nor ever did as the jingle by Jonathan Swift (1667 to 1745, Author of Gulliver's Travels etc ) proclaims:
"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."
During the Easter Rising of 1916, thirty members of the Irish Volunteers and Fianna Eireann captured the Magazine Fort. They took guns and withdrew, after setting fires to blow up the magazine's ordinance; but the fuses burned out before reaching the ammunition and little damage was caused.