Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated to the W of the summit of a low hill (58m OD). The ground slopes down moderately to the W and rises moderately to the E. The surrounding area consists of enclosed pasture. The site has unobstructed views in all directions, except to the E which is partly blocked by the summit of Knocklane Hill. The largely intact Carrowmably Signal Tower (SL012-008003-) to the SW cannot be seen from the site because its site is obscured by intervening forestry. Streedagh Signal Tower SL005-0201----) to the N has been demolished and can no longer be seen from the site. This site at Knocklane Hill, Ballineden, is located c. 397m ESE of a coastal promontory fort (SL007-001001-) located at the tip of Cooladoon or Dooneragh Point.

An early nineteenth-century two-storey square-plan signal tower, built with roughly coursed limestone rubble (int. dims. 4.35m NW-SE x 4.32m NE-SW; wall T 2.77m). Only the semi-basement level and the lower courses of the ground floor level of the signal tower now survive upstanding. The entire first floor and roof levels are collapsed\demolished, and the semi-basement level is now almost entirely infilled with soil and some rubble. The walls face NE, SE, SW and NW respectively. The SE wall features an external bulge that would have incorporated the chimney flue. Internally, the SE wall features the lower parts of a fireplace with flanking alcoves. Each of the alcoves features a square chute that passes through the body of the wall, close to the top of the surviving sections. A square section vertical drainage channel runs down the NW corner of the SE wall. This is believed to have brought rainwater from the roof to storage barrels in the semi-basement. The W corner of the tower features a square section vertical hole running vertically through the body of the wall. The purpose of this feature is unclear, but it may have also been used to bring water from the roof to the semi-basement. These features allowed for the signal tower to be orientated; the first floor door would have been located on the NW wall, the NE and SW walls would have featured pairs of windows on the ground floor and first floor levels, and the SE wall would have featured fireplaces on the ground floor and first floor levels. The remains of the tower are not surrounded by any accumulation of rubble indicating the rubble had been removed from site for use elsewhere.

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 08\11\21

Images:
SL007-057----.01 SW exterior
SL007-057----.02 SE exterior
SL007-057----.03 SW interior
SL007-057----.04 SE interior
SL007-057----.05 NW exterior
SL007-057----.06 NW interior
SL007-057----.07 NW exterior
SL007-057----.08 NW interior
SL007-057----.09 NW exterior 2
SL007-057----.10 Detail of channel to W corner
SL007-057----.11 Plan of site
SL007-057----.12 NW (top) and NE (bottom) exterior drawings
SL007-057----.13 SE (top) and SW (bottom) exterior drawings
SL007-057----.14 NW (top) and NE (bottom) interior drawings
SL007-057----.15 SE (top) and SW (bottom) interior drawings