 Portadown had no regular army presence but maintained a small Territorial Army base at Charles Street (known as "Charlies Walls") which housed HQ Company of the 4th Battalion Royal Irish Rangers.Although this did house small numbers of troops in the early part of the Troubles the main military presence was from units based outside Portadown, such as Kitchen Hill Barracks in Lurgan.The formation of the 11th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment saw a small barracks being built on the Southern edge of town at Mahon Road on a greenfield site.