Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

Located at the tip of Kilmichael Point adjacent to the low rocky coastline with short sections of sandy beach adjacent to the NW and a former coastguard station (NIAH Reg. No. 15700741) located immediately adjacent (c. 50m) to the SW (OD c. 13m). Site located c. 6.5kms to the SSE of the centre of Arklow, Wicklow, and c. 7.2kms SSE of the small village of Coolgreany. The probable\possible site of this former signal station is now mostly eroded\collapsed, and only fragmentary remains survive of what may be a small section of the signal station\tower (see below). The surrounding area is generally composed of level terrain that rises very gradually inland to the W, affording good views in all directions. The surrounding land is comprised mainly of rough pastureland to the SW and S and by pastureland to the NW, both defined by generally linear field boundaries. The adjacent stations in the signal station\tower chain were located at Cahore Point (WX017-021----), located c. 19.8kms to the S\SSW, site now lost to coastal erosion, and at Ardanairy, Mizen Head Wicklow (WI036-022----), located c. 14.9kms to the NNE\N, site now demolished. The site of this signal tower at Kilmichael Point in located c. 3.8kms NNE of the site of a church (WX007-015001-) and an associated graveyard (WX007-015002-) located at Kilgorman, and c. 3.3kms SSE of another church site (WI045-010001-) with an associated graveyard (WI045-010002-) at Ballinabanoge, County Wicklow.

The signal station at Kilmichael Point may have been demolished or lost to coastal erosion, and its exact position and its original form is not known. However, a ‘redundant record’ (WX007B002----) for a site on or near the probable site of the signal station records the remains of a small section of what is described as a ‘coastguard station’ that is depicted on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map of 1839. Interestingly, the measurements given for this structure ‘ext. dims. 7m plus NE-SW; 5.85m NW-SE’ corresponds very closely with the usual dimensions for purpose-built signal stations\towers along the W and SW coasts of Ireland, which are generally have a ground plan of c. 5.85m x c. 5.85m; this hints that this fragmentary ruin may represent the remains of a signal station, which, later, was incorporated into the coastguard station that is indicated on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map of 1839. This structure\ruin is described (2020) as being ‘built of stone (wall Wth 0.6-0.62m) with good granite quoins to the S corner rising to a H of 4m… doorway (Wth 1.14m) 1.16m from the S angle in the SE wall with brick surrounds’.

Kerrigan established that a signal tower was under construction at this site by 1804 and that it had not been completed by April 1806. The signal mast had been erected by September 1804 (Kerrigan 1995, 276). Rathbone (2020) suggested that it is possible that the signal station was never finished at this site.

The signal station\tower is not named on the Ordnance Survey map first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1839-40. However, the ‘coastguard station’ mentioned above is depicted and named. This is depicted as an L-plan structure (aligned WSW-ENE along its long axis) with a number of small rectangular-plan enclosures and a flagstaff located c. 90m to the SSE. This coastguard station was later replaced by a new coastguard station (NIAH Reg. No. 15700741), built c. 1875, that was constructed c. 60m to the WSW of the earlier structure; this had a ‘flag staff’ indicated c. 15m to the E on the Ordnance Survey twenty-five inch map of c. 1901. The earlier 'coast guard station' is depicted on this twenty-five inch map as a linear rectangular-plan structure (ext. dims c. 12.2m WSW-ENE x c. 5.8m WNW-ESE) and it has lost the short arm of the 'L', which was to the SE end, by this time.

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 Malin Head in Donegal to Dublin Bay. It was abandoned by the mid-1810s when the treat of a French invasion diminished (Kerrigan 1995, 157-66).

Uploaded on: 06/10/22

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.