Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on the side of a truncated hill immediately adjacent to steep sea cliffs to N (187m OD), and with a large hill to the S. Located on ground that slopes down gently to the S. The surrounding area consists of unenclosed roughly pasture. The site has unobstructed views in all directions, except to the S where the rising ground blocks the view. It was built to be intervisible with the site of the signal tower to the SW at Bloody Foreland Signal Tower (DG023-003----), which is located c. 22kms to the WSW (demolished; no longer visible from the site), and with the signal tower at Melmore Head (DG008-027----), located c. 12.8kms to the ENE, which is largely collapsed and is no longer visible from the site. Site lies c. 405m to the SE of a coastal promontory fort (DG015-041----) located at the tip of Horn Head

An early nineteenth-century two-storey signal tower on square-plan, constructed with roughly coursed rubble sandstone (int. dims. 4.35m N-S x 4.4.35m E-W; H 5.73m). The signal tower is largely collapsed, and consists of parts of the ground floor level and some fragments to the first floor level. The walls face N, S, E and W. The first floor doorway had been located on the N wall, and fragments of the splayed W side of the door reveal are still visible. Two window openings are visible on the W wall at ground floor level, and a single ground floor window is visible on the E wall. The windows are unusually large and feature shallow segmental-heads as opposed to the square-headed window openings found at most signal towers. The lower parts of one first floor window reveal is visible at the N end of the W wall. Rough dressed rubble stone voussoirs. A slot with joist holes that would have held the first floor is visible on the interior of W wall. Joist holes for a split-mezzanine level between the ground floor and the first floor are present at the W side of the N wall to interior. A small fragment of an alcove that would have flanked a central fireplace is visible on the ground floor of the S wall. Sections of render survive to interior. The signal tower is surrounded by a large spread of rubble which extends to the W and S of the signal tower, indicating that the signal tower collapsed in those directions. The rubble also fills the interior of the signal tower, and if a semi-basement level is present it is entirely concealed by the rubble.

The signal tower is set within a sub-rectangular enclosure defined by a collapsed rubble drystone wall (ext. dims. 30m E-W x 27m N-S). The ruined signal tower is located slightly to the S of the middle of the enclosure. The best-preserved section of the enclosure wall is to the S portion. The foundations of two small buildings (on rectangular-plan) are located within the enclosure, one built against the NW corner and the other built against the central portion of the S wall. The foundations of another small building (on rectangular-plan) is located outside of the S boundary, 5.8m E of the SW corner.

The small rectangular building located in the NW corner of the interior of the enclosure (ext. dims. 7.45m N-S x 3.2m E-W; int. dims 5.8m N-S x 2.6m E-W) is mostly defined by a low grassed-over foundation but with a small section of mortared rubble stone wall (max H 1.8m) surviving to the SE corner. The building to the interior to the S boundary wall (ext. dims. 3.2m E-W x 2.4m N-S) is defined by low rubble stone foundations covered in rubble stone; this structure may relate to the entrance to the enclosure, possibly the foundation of a guardhouse or a gate structure. The third building (ext. dims. 3.2m E-W x 1.5m N-S) to the exterior side of the S enclosure wall is also defined by low rubble stone foundations. The three buildings may have been used during the occupation of the signal tower.

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 19th 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: 13/08/21

Images:
DG015-042----.01.jpg View from SE
DG015-042----.02.jpg S elevation
DG015-042----.03.jpg View from SE
DG015-042----.04.jpg View from SW
DG015-042----.05.jpg View from SW
DG015-042----.06.jpg W exterior
DG015-042----.07.jpg S interior view
DG015-042----.08.jpg SE interior
DG015-042----.09.jpg W interior
DG015-042----.10.jpg W interior

References

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

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