Sampson’s Memorial Tower

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

The plaque over the entrance proclaims that Arthur Sampson Esq., was for nearly forty years a Justice of the Peace and agent of the Fishmongers’ Company and that the edifice was erected by public subscription.

It is a tall square tower with battered walls at entrance level rising to a crenellated top which slightly oversails the main walls where a chevron moulding in sandstone adds a little decoration. Attached to the tower there is a circular stairway containing stone spiral steps which rise to to give immediate access to the roof where one can gaze out across the flat countryside to Lough Foyle and Inishowen beyond and admire the slopes of Benevenagh. The tower is approx. 18 M. high. The roof is flat and of timber construction with a felt type finish.

The walls are built of local whinstone, corners trimmed with Dungiven sandstone and narrow windows punctuate the walls of tower and stairway the top of which is decorated with the chevron moulding. The stairway top may have had a conical end. A narrow chamfered doorway with shouldered trim gives access to the interior. Above there is an inscribed plaque and coat of arms.

The tower is placed on a slight ridge in a long strip of ground called Farlow Wood and is planted with interesting trees including evergreen oaks.

( On the approach to the tower from the Farlow Road there is a tiny cottage 1½ storeys built in red handmade bricks with pronounced sandstone quoins heavily chamfered and in each gable under the barges single small windows with sandstone surrounds similar to the doorway and principal windows. The cottage is derelict and the place overgrown. It must have been the shelter for a guardian of the tower. See HB02/10/014B.)

Historical information

The tower was erected c1860. It is not referred to in Griffiths Valuation

Arthur Sampson was son of A Sampson who wrote the Statistical Account of Co Londonderry and was a previous agent to the Fishmonger’s Company aswell as rector of Aghanloo Church of Ireland.

References:

J S Curl, Plantation of Londonderry 1609-1914

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
C. Ornamentation
E. Spatial Organisation
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

Neo-Tudoresque style memorial tower set in Farlow Wood in relatively flat undulating land. It is now obscured by trees. Of historical interest.