coastguard station

Detached seven-bay two-storey coastguard station, built c.1860, having machicolations to rear (east) and side (north), square-profile lookout tower to south-west corner with machicolations to front (west) and side (south). Now in ruins. Roof absent with remains of rubble stone gables to interior dividing walls and red brick chimneystack with rendered capping. Rubble stone walls, with some remaining render. Rendered walls to machicolations, having crenellated parapets surmounting paired rendered corbels. Camber-headed window openings with render sills, having red brick block-and-start surrounds and red brick voussoirs. Camber-headed door openings with red brick block-and-start surrounds and red brick voussoirs. Set overlooking Courtmacsherry bay.

Although now in ruins this substantial coastguard station would have once played an important role in the maritime activity of the area. Much of the general form and character of the building can still be seen, especially in the survival of the machicolations throughout the structure. The building is a prominent landmark in the area and is located in an ideal spot overlooking Courtmacsherry Bay. The coastguard was established in 1831 as part of the customs service and became part of the Admiralty in 1857. Built in the 1860s, this coastguard station forms one of a number which were built in Cork harbour to monitor the movements of foreign warships, enforce custom and excise, and implement British law in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.