Knockalla Coastguard Station

Detached six-bay two-storey former coastguard station, built c.1880, having machicolation feature to front and gable elevations with window openings, and projecting single-storey porch extensions to rear (northwest). Hipped slate roof with projecting eaves having exposed timber rafters, three rendered chimneystacks, replacement aluminium rainwater goods, and lean-to slate roofs to extensions. Painted coursed rubble stone walls with margined tooled quoins and raised stone plinth. Machicolations supported on corbelled brackets and smooth-rendered. Mainly camber-arch window openings with painted tooled stone voussoirs and sills, with some square-headed window openings. Replacement uPVC doors and windows. Blocked camber-arch doorway and recently enlarged window openings towards one end of front elevation. Single-storey rubble stone outbuildings to rear, with pitched slate roofs having render copings. Stone walls to boundary to rear with square-plan stone piers supporting wrought-iron pedestrian gate. Set on hill overlooking overlooking Trá Screagaí [Scraggy Bay] and Loch Súilí [Lough Swilly].

Knockalla Coastguard Station is situated in a beautiful location with breathtaking views overlooking Trá Screagaí [Scraggy Bay] and Loch Súilí [Lough Swilly]. It was built to provide accommodation, a watch tower and a school for the coastguards and their families and has been recently converted to holiday homes. It retains its original form and scale. The use of machicolation features provides the building with a medieval defensive theme, while the windows within would have been good vantage points for a coast watch. The adjoining rubble stone outbuildings add to the setting. Originally there was a boathouse and a slipway southeast of the complex.