Watch Tower (1841-2) — Ballymacredmond (ibane and Barryroe By.)

Situated on a wide headland to the NW of Leganagh Point adjacent to the N (c. 70m N) of the steep seacliffs that form the coastline of Seven Heads (OD c. 44m). Located on a level area adjacent to the coastline in an area of enclosed pastureland defined by linear field boundaries with a short section of rough pasture to the S situated between the signal station\tower and the coastline. The adjacent stations in the signal station\tower chain are found at Dunnycove, Galley Head (CO144-033001-), located c. 13.35kms to the W, of which the ground floor levels survives extant, and at the Old Head of Kinsale (CO137-008----), located c. 13.1kms to the ENE, where the signal tower has been recently restored (c. 2018) and now operates as a visitor attraction. This signal station\tower at Seven Heads\Ballymacedmond is located c. 2.4kms E of a coastal promontory fort (CO145-003----) at Dunwarly Point that has a tower house (CO145-002----) located adjacent to the N, and c. 1.6kms S\SSW of a burial ground (CO136-098----) sited at Ballinluig. An early-nineteenth-century (c. 1804-5) two-storey over partial raised basement square-plan signal station\tower (ext. dims. c. 5.8m NW-SE x c. 5.8m NE-SW; int. dims c. 4.8m NW-SE x 3.9m NE-SW; wall T c. 0.73m), built with roughly coursed rubble stone masonry. Exterior lime rendered, originally weather-slated; some sections of weather-slating survive to the inner faces of the parapet wall and around the machicolation (see below). The walls of the signal station\ tower face, NW, SE, NE, and SW. The structure is relatively well-preserved and survives close to its full height (H c. 9m) with some collapse\damage at parapet level, to the corner bartizans, and to the rear elevation (NW). The square-headed doorway is located to the centre of the SE elevation at first floor level; this would have been accessed via a retractable ladder. This doorway retains a cut stone sill\threshold to base. The doorway is protected by a rectangular-plan machicolation over supported by four tapering stone corbels. The SW and NE elevations feature pairs of square-headed window openings at ground and first floor levels. The window opening to the S end of the NE elevation has been opened up to form a ragged entrance. The NW wall bows out slightly across its whole width to house the internal chimney flue. A large ragged triangular-shaped hole is present to the NW elevation at ground floor level. Bartizans are located to either corner of the rear elevation (NW), both of which are now largely collapsed. Cut stone coping survives over some sections of the parapet walls. Interior retains sections of lime render. Kerrigan established that the signal tower was constructed by 1805 (Kerrigan 1995, 277). The signal station\tower was originally located with a rectangular-plan enclosure (ext. dims c. 53m NE-SW x. c. 33m NW-SE) that had a rounded end to the SW (the site of the signal mast). The N section of this enclosure has been removed but the rounded section to the S survives incorporated into later field boundaries defined by rubble stone walls. Cultivation ridges are visible to the interior of rounded section to the S. Two World War II-era lookout posts survive in close proximity to each other on a neighbouring headland c. 150m to W. The Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1841-2, shows the signal station\tower set within the N half of a complex enclosure. The N half of the enclosure was square in plan and featured a small rectangular building in the NW corner. The S part of the enclosure had a semi-circular form. Only a small part of the S rounded end of the enclosure survives, incorporated into a later field boundary. The Ordnance Survey first ed. map also shows that the signal tower had a T-shaped plan at this time, suggesting that an additional structure abutted the structure at the time of survey (probably to the NW elevation). This T-shaped plan is not depicted on the Ordnance Survey second ed. map, surveyed 1897-1904, suggesting that this had been removed or collapsed by this time. 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: 23/09/22