Telegraph Station — Ballard (ibrickan By.)

Situated on a flat terrace adjacent to steep vertical cliffs (c. 77m OD) at the edge of Ballard Bay. Located on ground that slopes down gently away to the S with commanding views between the NE and S. The surrounding area consists of enclosed fertile pastureland with fields defined by rubble stone walls. Site located c. 21m S of coastline at its nearest point. The adjacent towers in the signal tower chain are found at Mutton Island (CL038-071----), located c. 10.3kms to the NE, and at Knocknagharoon (CL065-006----), located c. 14.3kms to the SW. Site of signal tower at Ballard is located c. 824 m E\ENE from a coastal promontory fort (CL045-033----) located at the tip of Leamcangher Point, c. 1.25kms NE of another coastal promontory fort (CL046-004-----) located at Donegal Point, and c. 5.3kms W\WSW of the remains of Doonmore Castle (CL046-019002-). The site of an early nineteenth-century (c. 1804-5) originally two-storey square-plan signal tower (approx. ext. dims. 5.85m NE-SW x 5.85m NW-SE), built with roughly coursed rubble stone masonry. The signal station has been demolished (apparently by dynamite in 1960s), and is only represented by a spread of rubble (max H c. 1.2m). There are no architectural features visible. A surviving historic photograph of the site, dating from the late-nineteenth century, indicates that this structure conformed to the typical form found at extant signal tower sites. Kerrigan established that the signal mast had been erected and the signal tower completed by 1805 (Kerrigan 1995, 278). The signal tower is located within a trapezoidal-shaped enclosure (ext. dims. 56m NW-SE x 34m NE-SW) defined by a rubble stone wall (max H internally c. 2.3m). Entrance to the enclosure is provided through a gateway to the SE side (located close to the centre of this side of the boundary) defined by two rubble stone gate piers (Wth of entrance c. 2m). Most of the SW side and parts of the NE side of the boundary wall has been levelled or collapsed. The interior of the enclosure slopes slightly to the SE. There is a small roofless rectangular building (ext. dims c. 11m SE-NW x c. 3m SW-NE) located in the E corner of the boundary walls. This structure is aligned NW-SE and contains a chimneystack and a fireplace at the NW end. The building faces SW with blocked windows located on either side of the damaged doorway. There is also a blocked window on the NE wall. The Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1840-2, shows the trapezoidal enclosure with the position of the signal tower marked by a trigonometry symbol, and a rectangular building in the E corner. The site is identified as ’Telegraph Station.’ The Ordnance Survey second and third ed. six-inch maps, surveyed 1893-7 and 1913-8 respectively, show the same details but the site is identified as ‘Baltard Tower (in Ruins)’. The signal tower was part of a system of over 80 signal stations constructed by the British Board of Ordnance in the first decade of the nineteenth century to warn of the approach of a French invasion fleet. Signalling between sites was accomplished using a naval signal post. The system formed a continuous chain from Dublin Bay running clockwise all the way around the coast to Malin Head in County Donegal. It was abandoned by the mid-1810s when the threat of a French invasion diminished (Kerrigan 1995, 157-66). Compiled by: Stuart Rathbone Uploaded on: 14/07/22