The New Armouries was built against the medieval inner curtain wall at
the Tower of London in 1663-4 as a small arms store, and was later used
for displays of the Royal Armouries collections. On the opposite side of
the curtain wall a range of buildings providing soldiers' houses was
constructed in the mid 17th century. This was rebuilt as the Irish
Barracks by Dugal Campbell in the 1750s, but was demolished during the
19th century. Oxford Archaeology carried out a programme of
archaeological and building recording at the New Armouries and Irish
Barracks during redevelopment works by Historic Royal Palaces between
1997 and 2000. Excavations found traces of Roman deposits, and the
remains of medieval buildings and features constructed within the royal
garden. The complete plan of Dugal Campbell's Irish Barracks was
revealed. This Occasional Paper contains a full account of the
archaeological results and building surveys, a discussion of the
historical and cartographic evidence, and reports on finds and
environmental remains.