Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated at the base of a small short promontory\peninsula jutting out to the S side of Knockadoon Head, c. 785m SW of the tip of Knockadoon Head (OD c. 41m). Located c. 128m NNW of the coastline at its closest point. Set at the top of a gentle slope that leads down to the coastline to the S, W and SW with level terrain to the N. The surrounding area consists of unenclosed rough pasture to the immediate S, SW and E (between this site and the coastline) with pastureland and arable fields to the N defined by linear field boundaries. The adjacent stations in the signal station\tower chain were located at Ballymacotter (CO089-048----), located c. 15.1kms to the WSW, which survives in good condition and is now incorporated into a modern dwelling, and at Ardmore, Waterford (WA040-024----), located c. 13.15kms to the ENE, where a heavily modified structure survives extant. The signal station\tower at Knockadoon. Is located c. 445m WSW of a coastal promontory fort (CO078-042----) located a short distance to the S tip of Knockadoon Head, and c. 3.5kms ESE of a church (CO78-004002-) set in an associated graveyard (CO78-004001-) at Ballymacoda.

An early-nineteenth-century (c. 1804-5) two-storey over partial raised basement square-plan signal station\tower (ext. dims. c. 5.7m NW-SE x c. 5.8m NE-SW; int. dims. c. 4.2m NW-SE x c. 4.2m NE-SW), built with roughly coursed rubble stone masonry. The walls of the signal tower face to the NE, SE, SW, and NW. The signal tower is well-preserved and survives to its original full height (H. c. 9m). Exterior elevations are lime rendered with extensive sections of weather-slating still insitu, particularly to the upper levels. Cut stone coping survives over most sections of the parapet walls. The doorway is located to the centre of the SE elevation at first floor level, and would have been accessed via a retractable ladder. The doorway retains a cut stone sill\threshold to the base. The doorway is protected by a brick rectangular machicolation over supported on three angle stone corbels. The NE and SW elevations each feature two square-headed window openings at both ground and first floor levels, some of which retain cut stone sills. The window opening to the SE end of the NE elevation has been subsequently opened up to form a doorway. A chimneystack rose from the centre of the rear (NW) elevation, now collapsed; this may have been built of brick as the upper level of the chimney flue are partially constructed of brick. Brick bartizans are located on the corners of the rear elevation (NW) each supported on three cut stone corbels. Unusually (for a building of its type and date) the walls of the machicolation and the bartizans over the corners are constructed of red brick; this may reflect a period of repair or it may be original. Lime render survives to some sections of the interior walls; central fireplaces to the NW elevation. Kerrigan established that a signal mast and the signal station\tower were completed in 1804 (Kerrigan 1995, 277).

It is unclear whether the signal station was originally enclosed; it is depicted on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1841-2, as being located within a small rectangular-plan enclosure (ext. dims c. 42m NW-SE x c. 29m SW-NE) but subsequent maps show the enclosure may have been part of an evolving field system. Some sections of rubble stone walling surrounding the structure are remnants of these field boundaries. The Ordnance Survey twenty-five inch map of the site, c. 1901, shows the structure within a rectangular-plan enclosure (ext. dims c. 105m NW-SE x c. 24m SW-NE) that widens to the NW end (max ext. dims. c. 42m SW-NE) and has a rounded end to the SE; this rounded end to the seaward side is a feature of many of the enclosures surrounding signal station sites.

A well-preserved World War II-era reinforced concrete Lookout Post (LOP 21) is located c. 30m SE of the signal station\tower and a recently restored ’21 Eire’ sign, dating to the same period, is located to the SW of the site.

The signal tower was part of a system of over 80 signal stations constructed by the British Board of Ordnance in the first decade of the nineteenth century to warn of the approach of a French invasion fleet. Signalling between sites was accomplished using a naval signal post. The system formed a continuous chain from Dublin Bay running clockwise all the way around the coast to Malin Head in County Donegal. It was abandoned by the mid-1810s when the threat of a French invasion diminished (Kerrigan 1995, 157-66).

Compiled by: Stuart Rathbone

Uploaded on: 27/09/22

References

Kerrigan P.M. 1995 Castles and fortifications in Ireland 1485-1945. Cork. The Collins Press.

Rathbone, S. 2020. ‘The Construction, Survival and use of Signal Defensible Guard Houses in Connacht and Ulster’; unpublished PhD Thesis, Institute of Technology, Sligo