Mizen Head Signal Station

Freestanding octagonal-plan two-bay single-stage former fog signal station, built 1909, with flanking single-bay single-storey blocks. Now in use as part of lighthouse station. Recent steel railing, air vents and fixed ladder to walls and roof. Flat roof with parapet and moulded cornice. Painted rendered walls with cast-iron rainwater goods and square-headed air vents. Square-headed openings with fixed pane windows and blocked rendered openings with concrete sills. Square-headed door opening with timber battened door and concrete step. Situated on raised keyhole-plan concrete platform with original disused and recent signal lights to south-west.

This functional building, designed by C.W. Scott, is one element in a complex of related buildings that combine to form a significant landmark on Mizen Head. Dramatically sited on Cloghan Island, at Ireland’s most south-westerly point, the structures are of a practical and functional design. The signal station is a reminder of twentieth century safety measures employed for navigators of the south-west coast, a history illustrated well by the retention of its original, now disused, signal lights. The complex as a whole is unified through simplicity of form and the use of white paint. This uniform appearance, the historical function of the station and its ongoing use make it and its component parts a valued landmark at this most dramatic of locations. Marconi had wireless an antennae on the roof, which was probably associated with the former wireless station to the north-east.