Malin Tower — Ardmalin

Situated at the top of a small hill slightly to the E of the Malin Head (69m OD). Located on a rocky outcrop at the top of the hill, with a steep slope to the SE and gentle slopes to the N, W and SW. Atlantic Ocean located 300m to N at nearest point. Located 300m to the SSW of a standing stone (DG001-002002-) located on Dunaldragh, a small barren rocky offshore island. The surrounding area consists of partially enclosed blanket bog, with enclosed pasture to the S. The signal tower has unobstructed views in all directions. The signal tower at Fanad Head (DG009-012----), located 19.6kms to the SW, has been demolished with a later lighthouse constructed on its site. The signal tower has been modified, but many elements of its original form are still recognisable. A nineteenth-century two-storey, square-plan tower, built with roughly coursed rubble stone (ext. dims. 5.9m NW-SE x 5.9m SW-NE). The modified signal tower survives to its full height (c. 11.5m H). The signal tower is positioned with its walls facing NE, SE, SW and NW. The entire exterior of the tower had been covered in smooth cement render, giving it a ‘modern’ appearance. A photograph dated 1902 shows that the render had been applied by that point. The NW wall features at first-floor square-headed doorway originally accessed via a retractable ladder. The doorway is protected by a complete machicolation over, supported on three moulded cut-stone corbels, now rendered. A square-headed ground floor window has been added under the first floor doorway, then subsequently bricked up. The NE and SW walls would originally had pairs of square-headed window openings to the ground floor and the first floors but these have been subsequently blocked up. A narrow damaged square- or shallow-segmental-headed doorway, and a square-headed window opening have been added to the NE wall, now blocked up. An impression in the render suggests a small addition had been built up against the E corner of the NE wall, and subsequently removed. The 1902 photograph of the tower shows a single-storey shed with lean-to roof at this location. An impression in the render on the SE wall suggests that a small centrally located addition was constructed and subsequently removed. A centrally-located ground floor window has been added to the SE elevation. A tall centrally positioned chimneystack extends from the top of the SE wall. A second, tall narrow chimneystack is located at the E edge of the SE wall. Bartizans are located at the E and S corners of the building, each supported by three corbels. The base of all four walls of the signal tower have a pronounced batter. A set of contemporary illustrations of the site by Sir William Smith (dated between 1804 and 1808) show that the signal station consisted of a standard signal tower design, with a single-storey, gable-roofed building to the S of the signal tower, and a signal mast to the W of the signal tower. The building to the S of the signal tower is shown in drawings that pre-dated the construction of the signal tower and may have been used to house the signal crew or builders prior to the completion of the signal tower. The signal tower had a pronounced batter at the base of its walls, a tall chimneystack on top of the SE wall, and gun loops on all four sides of the bartizans, and on all three sides of the machicolation over the door. The signal tower was originally set in a rectangular enclosure, as shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, surveyed 1834-6, but above ground no traces of that enclosure have survived. The signal station seems to have been abandoned at the same time as the other stations in the system (c. 1810). During the 1880s the abandoned site was recommissioned by Lloyds of London as the location of a ship-to-shore semaphore station. In the early 1900s it was home to several sets of experimental radio broadcasting equipment and the site saw service again during World War 2 when a lookout post was constructed c. 60m to the NW. To the NE of the signal tower there is a small stone walled rectangular structure that may not have been roofed. This structure is identified as a 'barometer' on the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Ordnance Survey maps, surveyed 1848 and 1900-5 respectively. To the W of the signal tower there is a poured-concrete single floor structure identified as a ‘semaphore watch house’ on the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Ordnance Survey maps (NIAH 40900113). The structure is shown on the 1902 photograph of the site with a flag signal mast on top of its roof and a larger flag signal mast to the W of the structure. To the W of the semaphore watch house there is a well-preserved World War 2 era Lookout Post (L.O.P. 80; NIAH 40900104). To the N of the signal tower there is a large rectangular enclosure defined by a tall wall. Inside the enclosure there is a small rectangular concrete building that has been identified as a small World War 2 era quarters for the personnel manning the L.O.P. 80 (Horner & Brown 2014). A well preserved ‘Eire Sign 80’ can be seen at the back of the foreshore, 180m NE of the signal station site. The NIAH summarised the complex later history of this site as follows, ‘The tower apparently later served as a weather station during the second half of the nineteenth century. It was subsequently in use as a signal tower for the insurance company Lloyds of London, c. 1890, when information on shipping arriving across the Atlantic (Lloyds of London underwrote the insurance for many transatlantic shipping and mercantile ventures) was passed from a semaphore station on the offshore island of Inishtrahull, and to and from shipping to Malin Head, and eventually on to London. The tower was probably rendered around this time. In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi (1874 - 1930) established a radio signal station adjacent to Lloyd's Tower (see 40900113), and in 1902 succeeded in sending the first commercial radio message from Malin Head to the ship S.S. Lake Ontario. Apparently, the radio station was involved in the sea trials of the radio system on the ill-fated RMS Titanic in April 1912. Later the station was taken over by the Post Office for communication purposes” (NIAH 40900101).’ 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 19th 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: 13/08/21 Images: DG001-006----.01.jpg Context from WNW DG001-006----.02.jpg N Oblique Exterior DG001-006----.03.jpg NE Exterior 1 DG001-006----.04.jpg NE Exterior 2 DG001-006----.05.jpg NW Exterior DG001-006----.06.jpg S Oblique Exterior DG001-006----.07.jpg SE Exterior DG001-006----.08.jpg SW Exterior DG001-006----.09.jpg W Oblique Exterior DG001-006----.10.jpg E Oblique Exterior DG001-006----.11.jpg Semaphore Station to W, looking N DG001-006----.12.jpg Ancillary building to N, looking NW DG001-006----.13.jpg ‘Eire’ Sign to N DG001-006----.14.jpg Lookout Post to N, looking E