Signal tower

The National Monuments Service's description

The site of this signal station has been lost to coastal erosion in a dynamic sandy coastal environment. It was originally located adjacent to the NW of the coastline on the summit of a low hill with extensive views in all directions. The terrain falls always gently in all directions from the summit of this hill (and the site of the signal station) with an area of eroding sandy headland and a beach located adjacent to the E. The surrounding landscape to SW, W, NW and N is now characterised by pastureland that is defined by generally linear field boundaries. The adjacent signal stations in the signal station\tower chain were located Rosslarefort, Fort Point (WX038-007003-), located c. 11.4kms to the SSW\S, now also lost to costal erosion, and at Cahore Point (WX017-021----), located c. 16.7kms to the NNE, now demolished. The site of this signal station at Blackwater Head is located c. 1km E of a motte (WX033-006----) at Inch, and c. 3kms SE\ESE of a church site (WX027-045001-) with an associated graveyard (WX027-045002-) located at Glebe, just to the W of the small village of Blackwater.

The site of the signal station\tower at Blackwater Head has probably been lost to coastal erosion in a dynamic sandy coastal environment. Few details about the signal station are known, not even its precise location or its original form. Kerrigan established that a signal station\tower had likely been completed at the site by October 1804, and that the signal mast was erected around the same time (Kerrigan 1995, 276). The Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1839-40, shows a coastguard station at Blackwater Head, and a ‘telegraph’ indicated to the same site. The signal station may have been a precursor to the coastguard station or, perhaps, incorporated the signal station into the later coastguard station (something that occurred at a number of signal station sites in West Cork). The site of this coastguard station has subsequently been lost to coastal erosion. The site is indicated as ‘Telegraph Hill’ on the Ordnance Survey third ed. six-inch map of c. 1908-9.

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).

Compiled by: Stuart Rathbone

Uploaded on: 05/10/22

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.