Barracks

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on flat sandy land close to the tip of Rough Point, which is located c. 375m to the NNW (12m OD). Site surrounded by pastureland and arable land enclosed by linear rubble stone walls with numerous modern developments in the vicinity. Site located c. 150m from the coastline to the E at its nearest point and c. 250m from the coastline to the W. Site located c. 13.7kms SSW of the site of the signal tower (KE013-036----) at Kerry Head, now demolished, and c. 25.6kms ENE of the now ruinous signal tower at Ballydavid Head (KE033-027---). An intermediate enclosed barracks site associated with the signal tower network is located at Brandon Head (KE025-004----), now collapsed, c. 17.1kms to the SSW. Site of Rough Point enclosed barracks located c. 400m NE of Kilshannig Church (KE027-002001-) and associated graveyard (KE027-002002-).

Site of an early nineteenth-century (c. 1810) two-storey or single-storey over raised basement barracks building associated with the signal tower network. Possibly originally with a signal mast to site. Rough Point enclosed barrack has been demolished and levelled, and a number of residential buildings have been built over and close to the site. The Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1841-2, shows a rectangular enclosure (ext. dims c. 24m NW-SE x c. 19m NE-SW) with square-plan bastions to the corners to the N, E, S, and W. A large T-shaped building is shown in the SE part of the enclosure. The T-shaped building was probably similar in form to the associated barracks buildings at Bolus Head (KE104-001----) and at Hogs Head (KE105-004----) with a rectangular-plan building with a perpendicular set of freestanding steps used to access a central first floor entrance to the front (to the NW in this case). The site is identified as ‘Signal Tower’ on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map.

The site is one of four enclosed barracks of similar form that were constructed around the coast of County Kerry (Kerrigan 1995, 162-3). Although some uncertainty remains about the age of the sites, all four of the enclosed barracks were likely constructed between 1808 and 1812. The sites seem to have been specifically related to the system of signal towers constructed around the Irish coast between 1804 and 1806, added in areas where intervisibility between signal towers had proved difficult. It is not clear if these larger and more complex additions to the system were designed to house larger signal crews, or if they were designed to house the same size signal crews in more comfort than was to be found at the unpopular signal towers. The enclosed barracks were presumably abandoned in 1815, when the signal towers around the SW coast were decommissioned.

Compiled by: Stuart Rathbone

Uploaded on: 25/07/22

References

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

Wakefield, E. 1812 An account of Ireland. London. Longman, Hurst, Lees, Orme and Brown.

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

Mould, D. P. 1994. The Barracks of Ballinskelligs Bay. Archaeology Ireland 8 (2), 22-4.