Beacon in Brownstown

Pair of freestanding beacons, begun 1819; completed 1821, on circular plans. Limestone ashlar battered walls retaining traces of limewash finish with tooled cut-limestone beaded or "Ovolo" stringcourses below capping. Set on headland.

A pair of beacons erected to designs attributed to George Halpin (c.1779-1854), Inspector of Works and Lighthouses for the Ballast Board (appointed 1810), representing an important component of the early nineteenth-century built heritage of County Waterford (cf. 22902605). NOTE: The beacons were commissioned 'at the earnest solicitation of the harbour commissioners' following the "Sea Horse" disaster (1816) to distinguish Tramore Bay from the entrance into Waterford Harbour 'and consequently to avoid the dangerous bay [where] sunken rocks nearly covered by the sea at high water render the approach particularly dangerous' (Ryland 1824, 245-6).