Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on the top of the ridge that forms the W tip of Valentia Island (c. 179m OD) approximately 580m NNE from the tip of Bray Head. Located on a small flat area on the W\SW end of the ridge with moderate sloping ground away from site to the SE and steeply-sloping sea cliffs adjacent to the NW and W. The surrounding area largely consists of unenclosed blanket bog and steep rocky cliffs but a small area of now unused fields (defined by earthen banks) surrounds the site of the signal tower. The adjacent towers\stations in the signal tower chain are found at Great Blasket\An Blascaod Mór (KE051-017----), located c. 24.5kms to the NNW, and at Bolus Head (KE096-024----), located c. 11.5kms to the SSE. This signal tower site at Bray Head is located adjacent to a possible coastal promontory fort (KE087-101----) located at the tip of Bray Head to the SSW, and c. 1.38kms S of another coastal promontory fort (KE087-102----) at Beenaniller Head.

An early nineteenth-century (c. 1804-5) two-storey square-plan signal tower (ext. dims. c. 5.85m NE-SW x c. 5.85m NW-SE) with later alterations (c. 1910-20), built of roughly coursed rubble stone masonry. The elevations of the signal tower face to the NE, SE, SW, and NW. The signal tower was extensively refurbished by the Royal Navy who reused the site as a Naval War Signal Station during World War I, and some of its original form has been altered (Clements 2013, 102). The original square-headed doorway is located on the first floor of the SW elevation and would have been originally accessed via a retractable ladder. The NW and SE walls each feature two square-headed window openings at ground and first floor level. None of the original openings retain the cut stone surrounds as seen at other sites of its type. The signal tower no longer features a machicolation over the first floor doorway on the SW wall or bartizans over the N and E corners; an early photograph (Lawrence Collection c. 1890) indicates that there were bartizans supported on corbels to the corners to the NE elevation, and also shows evidence of a gabled single-storey structure built against this elevation that was removed by this time (impression in render). The signal tower is covered in smooth cement render to the exterior. There is a flat reinforced concrete roof (c. 1915) that overhangs the side walls and has a projecting moulded cement cornice to its verges, a central cement rendered chimneystack to the NE elevation, and a dwarf cement rendered parapet wall surrounding the roof. Off-centre square-headed ground floor entrances have been added to the NE and SW walls, protected by the remains of reinforced concrete porches with flat roofs. A further single-storey reinforced concrete structure is located to the NW elevation, possibly a shed. The interior is cement rendered, presumably as part of the World War I-era alterations. Kerrigan established that the signal mast had been erected and the signal tower completed by 1805 (Kerrigan 1995, 278).

The tower is set within a sub-rectangular enclosure (ext. dims. c. 44m NE-SW x c. 24m NW-SE) with a rounded edge to the SW side; this enclosure is defined by a rubble stone wall that still survives along most boundaries. This wall has rounded cement coping to a number of sections, particularly to the E side of the enclosure. The SW boundary of the enclosure is now removed\collapsed, and the NE part of the enclosure is now defined by a tall cement rendered rubble stone wall (presumably rendered at same time as signal tower was altered). Entrance to the enclosure is through a gateway to the NE defined by tall cement rendered piers; a cement pathway leads from here to the tower. A large field defined by an earthen bank abuts the SE side of the enclosure.

To the SW of the signal tower is the base of a signal mast or later radio mast; this consists of the lower part of a square-profile metal post supported on a circular metal plate that is set on a concrete base. It is very probable that this dates to the alterations resulting from the reuse of the site during World War I.

The Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1841-2, shows the tower set within a rectangular enclosure, defined by two lengths of wall to the NE and SE, and by the adjacent cliff edge at the NW and SW. The large field to the SE is depicted divided into E and W parts. The same situation is generally depicted on the Ordnance Survey second and third eds. maps, surveyed 1894-8 and 1914-5 respectively, the only change being the addition of walls to define the NW and SW boundaries of the enclosure. An ‘Eire Sign 35’ is located c. 115 to the SW.

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 nineteenth 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: 27/07/22

References

Clements, B. 2013. Billy Pit had them built. Napoleonic towers in Ireland. Stamford: The Holliwell Press.

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.