lifeboat station

Detached gable-fronted four-bay single-storey lifeboat house, built c. 1870, with internal first floor lookout platform. flat-roof hidden by parapet. Smooth rendered ruled-and-lined walls on plinth course with coping to eaves level moulded render course to parapet level; curvilinear gable to front with commemoration stone and stucco pilasters surmounted by pediment. Square-headed window openings with one-over-two timber casement windows and stone sills; single circular window with cruciform stucco surrounds to east elevation. Square-headed opposing door openings, narrowed from original size, with sheet iron doors on sliding runners opening onto slipway and to road.

An ornate lifeboat house which once formed an essential part of the maritime safety infrastructure of this dangerous coastline. The lifeboat is recorded as having made a rescue trip to Inishtrahull in 1894 when the island was cut off from the mainland for over three weeks. The islanders were forced to burn all their furniture for fuel and only a few potatoes remained between them and absolute starvation. One man had died from insufficient food. Although now disused, it is an important part of the social history of Inishowen. The structure forms part of a group of maritime structures with the adjoining pier (40900509)