Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on an extensive barren level area c. 1.95kms SSW to the S of Benwee Head (160m OD). The surrounding area consists of unenclosed blanket bog with frequent modern peat cuttings and drainage ditches in all directions. A well-maintained modern gravel road runs N-S past the E side of the signal tower. The signal tower has unobstructed views in all directions, except to the N which is blocked by a slight rise. The adjacent signal towers at Slievemore Hill, Barr Thráú, to the NE corner of the Belmullet Peninsula (MA010-042----), located c. 11.3 kms to the SW, and at Glensky (MA005-012----), located c. 13.78kms to the E\ESE, are both largely collapsed and can no longer be seen from the site. Site located c. 1.67kms to the SSW of a coastal promontory fort (MA001-001----) located at the tip of Benwee Head, and c. ENE of another promontory fort (MA003-001----) at Cill Ghallagáin. Due to the restricted views to the N, the coastline cannot be seen from this location. Observations of the coast may have been made from a point further to the N, and information may have been signalled or carried back to the signal station as required.

An early nineteenth-century (c. 1806) square-plan signal tower, built with roughly coursed rubble stone masonry. The signal tower has collapsed\been demolished, and the surviving part of the tower consists of the lower courses of roughly coursed stone masonry defining a square building (ext. dims c. 5.8m E-W and c. 5.8m N-S) with its walls facing N, E, S and W. No architectural details remain insitu. A small amount of rubble is present around and within the site of the collapsed signal tower. The lack of rubble around the building suggested that the stone has been removed for reuse elsewhere.

The signal tower is set within a large oval hollow (ext. dims. c.31m N-S and c.21m E-W). A narrow, stony raised area connects the S edge of the hollow to the signal tower. The N part of the hollow contains a small pond. It is not clear if this hollow was feature contemporaneous with the signal tower that may have functioned in a similar way to the enclosures seen at other sites, or if it is a feature formed during subsequent peat extraction (more likely). If the hollow is an original feature, then the stony raised area S of the signal tower may be an original causeway.

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 19th 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: 01/02/22

Images:
MA004-025----.01 W elevation, Looking E
MA004-025----.02 E elevation, Looking W 1
MA004-025----.03 E elevation, Looking W 2
MA004-025----.04 N elevation, Looking S 1
MA004-025----.05 N elevation, Looking S 2
MA004-025----.06 S elevation, Looking N
MA004-025----.07 Plan of site

References

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.