Martello tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Cork Great or Cork Abbey Martello Tower No. 3 (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’. This martello tower is located along the coastline N of Bray. It is marked on Duncan's map of 1821 and on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map (1843). It was located on the coastline above Bray. It has since been removed. The coastline has been eroded at this point which probably resulted in its disappearance. In 1864 there were reports that the tower had been found shaking in its foundations by heavy seas and gales (Turner 1983, 93).
Martello Tower No. 3 described by Kerrigan (1995, 171) as; 'Half a mile north [of tower 2 WI004-002----] was tower no. 3, sited on a low cliff overlooking the beach; this no longer survives, but a mid-nineteenth-century plan indicates it surrounded by a glacis a short distance from the tower'.

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

Photo © http://www.photopol.com/martello/killiney_bay.html

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.

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