Martello tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Seapoint Martello Tower No. 14 (Kerrigan 1995, 170). According to Kerrigan (1995, 168) construction of the Dublin area Martello Towers and their batteries commenced in 1804 under the supervision of Colonel Benjamin Fisher of the Royal Engineers and by December 1805 all towers were armed and complete. Kerrigan (ibid., 170) recorded that; ‘The towers and batteries south of Dublin are numbered from 1 to 16, but there were only fourteen towers, as at two locations there were batteries only, while several of the towers were close to adjacent batteries’. Situated on a small promontory to the SE of the Railway Station at Seapoint the E facing slope offers views over the coastline. A circular Martello tower with an entrance from Brighton Vale Road down to the sea. Free-standing the tower is built of dressed granite blocks. Machicolation in place over doorway on the NW side. Stairs led to an entrance above ground floor level. A double offset or string course marks the parapet level (Turner 1983, 94). Described by Kerrigan (1995, 174) as; 'Seapoint tower, no. 14, a standard tower for one 18-pounder gun. A little over one-and-a-quarter miles farther west is the unusual tower no. 15 at Williamstown'.

See attached plan of Seapoint Martello Tower No. 14 courtesy of the Irish Military Archives - Archival Reference Code: IE/MA/MPD/AD119453-010

See attached Taylor's 1816 Map showing the location of the Martello Tower.

Taylor, J. 1816 Taylor's map of the environs of Dublin: extending 10 to 14 miles from the castle, by actual survey, on a scale of 2 inches to one mile.

Photo ©Brian T McElherron http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/dublin/seapoint/seapointmartello.html

DU023-010----_03 Patrick Healy Collection, https://hdl.handle.net/10599/1978, © South Dublin Libraries, Local Studies Collection, County Library, Town Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 23 January 2023

References

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

Turner, K. 1983 If you seek monuments: a guide to the antiquities of the barony of Rathdown. Rathmichael Historical Society.