Indicated, not named — Gleann Oirtheach (cléire)

Situated on the crest of a hill to the E side of Clear Island\Cléire, c. 500m SE of the centre of the island, and c. 200 NW of the coastline at its closest point (OD c. 129m). Located on a flat area with a gentle upland slope to the NW towards centre of island, and a comparatively steeper slope dropping down to the coastline to the SE. The surrounding area consists of enclosed pasture (characterised by linear field boundaries) on the gentle slope to the NW, and by unenclosed rough pasture on the steeper slope to the SE. The adjacent stations in the signal tower\station chain are found at Ballylinchy (CO150-042----), located c. 10.1kms to the NE\ENE on the mainland to the ESE of Baltimore, which survives in good condition, and at Knock (SMR CO148-012----), located c. 12kms to the NW, which survives in an altered form incorporated into a modern dwelling. This signal tower\station on Clear Island\Cléire is located adjacent to the NE of (and within the enclosure of) a lighthouse (C0153-022001-) along with the ruins of numerous associated structures, and c. 1km SSW of a passage tomb (C0153-010----), located on a high point of the island, and c. 2kms WNW\W of a tower house (CO153-015002-), known as Doonamore Castle, which is located on a narrow promontory jutting out from the coastline to the W side of Clear Island\Cléire. An early-nineteenth-century (c. 1804-5) originally two-storey over partial raised basement square-plan signal station\tower (ext. dims. c. 5.8m N-S x c. 5.8m E-W), built with roughly coursed rubble sandstone masonry. Exterior lime rendered with surviving sections of weather-slating still insitu. Slight batter to base. The walls of the signal tower face, NE, SE, SW, and NW. The signal tower is well-preserved and survives to its full height (H c. 9m). The original square-headed doorway was located to the centre of the SW elevation at first floor level; this would have been originally accessed via a retractable ladder. This original doorway was protected by a rectangular-plan coursed rubble stone machicolation over supported on three cut stone corbels. This doorway was later infilled\blocked and replaced by a central square-headed doorway beneath at ground floor level with plain rendered surround and a concrete lintel over; this doorway has also been subsequently infilled\blocked. Evidence for a gabled porch to this later doorway, now removed. The NW and SE elevations each feature two square-headed window openings at both ground floor and first floor levels; many of these retain cut sandstone block-and-start surrounds and cut stone sills. The NE elevation features a tall coursed rubble stone chimneystack that rises over the centre, and an infilled\blocked square-headed opening adjacent to S of the chimney flue at second floor level. A single-storey rubble stone structure\abutment with collapsed\removed mono-pitched roof over survives attached to the NE elevation. Unusually for a structure of its type and date, the rear corners of the signal station\tower (N and E in this instance) do not feature bartizans; these may have been originally built here and later removed and the masonry subsequently neatly repaired. Kerrigan established that the signal tower was completed by 1805 (Kerrigan 1995, 277). The signal station\tower was apparently extensively damaged by fire during the early-nineteenth century. It was converted for use as lighthouse keepers’ accommodation associated with the adjacent lighthouse (CO153-022002-) c. 1818. The single-storey abutment to the NE elevation of the signal station\tower - and as well as many of the extensive collection of now-ruinous mainly single-story structures to site - were built to serve this lighthouse, which was in service from c. 1818-54 after which it was decommissioned following the construction of a new lighthouse on the nearby Fastnet Rock (itself later replaced by the present lighthouse on Fastnet Rock that was built between 1899-1903). The signal station\tower, the lighthouse and the other related structures to site are set within a narrow irregular sub rectangular-plan enclosure (ext. dims c. 56.5m NE-SW x c. 15m NW-SE) that has a rounded end to the SW. This enclosure is defined by high (H 2.5m) rubble stone boundary walls that has sections of weather-slating surviving to sections along the exterior face. Access to the site is via a roadway from the W. Hamilton’s 1806 map shows the signal station\tower sited in a narrow rectangular enclosure with a rounded end to the SW (Kerrigan 2003, 37). The Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1841-2, depicts the signal station\tower to the centre of a long U-shaped enclosure, with the lighthouse adjacent to the SW of the signal tower (identified as ‘Cape Clear Light Ho.’) and a dense cluster of structures located adjacent to the NE of the station within the enclosure. A narrow (possibly) covered passageway appears to connect the lighthouse to the signal tower at this time. This internal arrangement is also depicted on the later Ordnance Survey maps of the site from c. 1900; the internal arrangement of the structures within the enclosure is difficult to interpret from the available cartographic sources. A ‘signal pole’ (OD 448ft) is indicated c. 200m to the NE of the signal station on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map (surveyed 1841-2). 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