Battery

The National Monuments Service's description

Dalkey Island Martello Tower (DU023-029009-) and Battery No. 9 (Kerrigan 1995, 170) stands at the S end of Dalkey Island. Martello Tower No. 9 stands 155m to NW. 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. A battery compound contains three gun emplacements, facing N, E, and S across Dalkey Sound. It contained a shot furnace and quarters for a garrison of 12 soldiers (De Courcy 1996, 365). The tower and battery was armed with five 24 pounder guns (Kerrigan 1995, 170).

Described by Kerrigan (1995, 173) as; 'The three-gun battery at the southern end of the island with its iron rails and pivots for the traversing platforms is still largely intact, backed by a ruined guardhouse. Just under 200 yards to the north-west-that is, within musketry range is the Martello tower [DU023-029009-]: larger than the other towers, and with no machicolation, there were two 24-pounders mounted on the circular gun platform. The field of fire of the battery guns was generally southwards over Killiney Bay, overlapping with the gunfire from battery no. 8 and to a lesser extent with the guns at tower and battery no. 6. The towers and batteries along the shore as far as tower no 1 at Bray all overlapped in their field of fire, and the solid iron shot of the 24-pounders had a range of somewhat over a mile; loaded with canister or grapeshot the guns of the towers and batteries could cover the full extent of the beach at low tide. The concern expressed by Carhampton in 1795 about Killiney Bay as a convenient landing place for an enemy force was now answered ten years later by the construction of these coastal defences'.

See attached plan of Dalkey Island Battery and Martello Tower No. 9 courtesy of the Irish Military Archives - Archival Reference Code: IE/MA/MPD/AD119454-006

See attached Taylor's Map showing the location of the Battery and 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.

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.

De Courcy, J. 1996 The Liffey in Dublin. Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.