Signal Tower (in ruins) — Mallavoge

Situated close to the crest of an E-W running ridge close to the centre of the Brow Head Peninsula, c. 1.13kms NE of the tip of Brow Head. Sited c. 205m NW of the coastline at its nearest point (OD c. 115m). Located on gently sloping ground with a long gentle slope to the NW down to the coastline at Barley Cove, and a shorter steeper slope to the SE. The surrounding area consists of unenclosed rough pasture with enclosed pastureland, defined by irregular field boundaries, located further to the NW and N (after c. 100m). The adjacent stations in the signal tower\station chain are found at Knock (CO148-012----), located c. 12.55kms to the ENE, now integrated into a modern dwelling, and at Mizen Head (C0152A001----), which is located c. 3.75kms to the W (the closest distance between any two adjacent signal stations\towers located along the coastline of Ireland), where the well-preserved structure survives to its full height. This former signal station\tower at Brow Head is located c. 990m NE of a coastal promontory fort (CO152-012----), located close to the tip of Brow Head, and c. 1.5kms SSW\S of a burial ground at Killeane. An early nineteenth-century (c. 1804-5) three-storey square-plan signal station\tower (ext. dims. c. 5.85m N-S x c. 5.85m N-S; int. dims c. 4.2m N-S x c. 4.2m E-W; wall T c. 0.8m), built with randomly coursed rubble stone masonry. Lime rendered to the exterior with slate cladding over\weather-slated, which still survives remarkably intact compared to other examples of its type. The walls of the signal tower face, N, S, E and W. The signal tower is well-preserved and survives to its full height (H c. 9m). The signal station\tower is of the standard design but the fenestration pattern may have been altered since original construction particularly to the top storey. Some sections of cut stone coping survive over the parapet walls. There is a flat concrete roof supported on steel beams, which is a later modification to site (possibly altered c. 1900 when a later signal station\telegraph station located c. 30m to the SW was in use. Cement rendered chimneystack to the render of the N elevation; this chimneystack is in good condition and may have been repaired c. 1900. There is a square-headed doorway located to the centre of the S elevation at first floor level, which retains a cut stone sill\threshold to the base. This doorway would have been originally accessed via a retractable ladder. The doorway is protected by a rectangular-plan machicolation over supported on three tapering cut stone corbels; the machicolation is now cement rendered. Cement rendered rubble stone bartizans are located to the NE and NW corners (parapet level) each supported on cut stone corbels; bartizans have rounded corners. The W elevation originally featured a pair of square-headed window openings at ground floor level; the window opening to the S end has been subsequently opened up\broken through to form a ragged doorway. Unusually, there are no window openings to the W elevation at first floor level, a feature seen at most examples of its type (orientated excepted). There are two square-headed window openings to the E elevation at both ground and first floor levels. The window opening to the N end at ground floor level has been later neatly opened up to form a doorway while the window opening adjacent to the S is unusually large compared to the form at similar sites of its type. The W elevation features two square-headed window openings at first floor level, a large window opening to the N and a smaller window opening at the S. The W elevation features a central square-headed window opening at second floor level that extends into the parapet level. Concrete sills to the window openings (altered c. 1900). The arrangement of windows strongly suggest that the signal tower has been modified although the weather-slating suggests that this arrangement may have been original or altered at an early date. A large rectangular area at the base of the N elevation is devoid of slates, possibly indicating the former presence of an abutting structure that was been subsequently removed. The signal station\tower is not located within an enclosure. Kerrigan established that the signal mast had been erected and the signal tower completed by 1805 (Kerrigan 1995, 277). Hamilton’s 1806 map shows the signal station\tower located in a narrow rectangular enclosure with a rounded end at the S (Kerrigan 2003, 37). The Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1841-2, shows the signal station\tower set within a narrow rectangular enclosure (ext. dims c. 45m N-S x c. 20m E-W). The Ordnance Survey second ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1897-1904, shows the S end of the enclosure as having had the original rounded end form reinstated by this time. The Ordnance Survey second ed. six-inch map also shows three small adjacent buildings located to the SW of the signal tower. A meandering path connects these buildings to a small watch house located to the SE of the signal station\tower. The Ordnance Survey third ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1926-1937, shows the three small adjacent buildings had been combined into a single complex building. The NIAH identifies these as the remains of a Marconi Telegraph Station (Reg. No. 20915201). During the mid-to-late nineteenth century, a complex of coastguard buildings and a flagstaff were constructed immediately adjacent to SW to the signal tower, and a small watch house was constructed to the SE. In 1901 Guglielmo Marconi established an experimental transmitter at the site, to communicate with a transmitter at Poldhu in Cornwall (Raboy 2016, 162-3). A new building was constructed immediately S of the end of the enclosure, with an antenna mount immediately W of the building. All of these buildings are now ruined. Facilities listed at the site in 1917 include a Lloyd’s signal station with signal flags and lamps, and a radiotelegraph operated by the General Post Office (Hydrographic Office 1917, 54). 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: 21/09/22