Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated approximately 400m SE of the summit of Glensky Hill (253m OD). Located at the edge of a ridge that leads to the summit. The ground slopes steeply down to the S and rises moderately to the N. The surrounding area consists of unenclosed blanket bog. The signal tower has unobstructed views to the E, S and W, but the rising ground to the N obstructs the view. The adjacent signal stations, Benwee Head (MA004-025----), located c. 13.78kms to the W\WNW, and Creevagh (MA007-015002-), located c. 21.96ksm to the E, are collapsed\demolished and can no longer be seen from the site. The coast to the N cannot be seen from this location. Observations of the coast may have been made from a point further to the N and information could have been carried or signalled back to the signal station as required. Site located c. 1.63 kms SW of a coastal promontory fort (MA001-001----) located at the tip of Benwee Head and c. 2.12kms ENE of another coastal promontory fort (MA003-001----).

An early nineteenth-century (c. 1804-6) two-storey square-plan signal tower, built with roughly coursed rubble stone masonry. The signal tower has collapsed, and only parts of the ground floor level walls remain upstanding (above ground). The walls define a square building (ext. dims. c. 5.8m N-S x c. 5.8m E-W) with its walls facing N, E, S and W. The best-preserved part of the signal tower is to the N elevation (H c. 2.47m) with lower sections surviving to the E (max H c. 1.1m), W (max H c. 1.4m) and S (max H c. 1m) elevations. The S wall features a small square chute low down on the W portion of the wall which is likely to have passed into the semi-basement level or the base of the ground floor. The presence of this feature suggests that the first floor doorway would have been located on the N wall, that the E and W elevations originally featured the pairs of window at ground and first floor levels, and that the S wall would have contained central fireplaces on the ground floor and first floor levels flanked to either side by alcoves. The signal tower is surrounded on the E, S and W by a dense spread of rubble masonry. Given the length of the spread of rubble to the S, it seems likely that the tower collapsed primarily in that direction. The interior is filled with rubble and few interior details remain visible.

The signal tower is set near the centre of a rectangular enclosure (ext. dims. c. 43m N-S x 28m E-W) defined by a low roughly coursed rubble stone wall (Wth c. 0.9m) that is now largely collapsed. The enclosure wall survives best to the W side (max H c. 1m) and the N wall of the enclosure is now completely absent. Given that little if any of the rubble from the collapsed signal tower appears to have been removed from the site, the absence of either an intact or collapsed wall along the N side of the enclosure suggests that the perimeter of the enclosure may never have been built\completed.

Approximately 1m N of the signal tower there is a stretch of walling that runs E-W. The wall is 5.65m long and 2m wide. It extended beyond the line of the E side of the signal tower by 1.7m. It is not clear what the function of this wall was. It may have been part of a small building inside the enclosure, or may have diverted surface water running down the slope away from the signal tower. N of this wall there was a large irregular hollow, which may have been a quarry.

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: 28/01/22

Images:
MA005-012----.01 W elevation, looking W
MA005-012----.02 N elevation, looking S
MA005-012----.03 S elevation, looking N
MA005-012----.04 W elevation, looking E
MA005-012----.05 S side of enclosure wall, looking N
MA005-012----.06 E side of enclosure wall, looking W
MA005-012----.07 Plan of site
MA005-012----.08 N (top) and E (bottom); Exterior Drawings
MA005-012----.09 S (top) and W (bottom); Exterior Drawings

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.