Pigeon House Fort — Unknown Townland

Situated on low-lying ground adjacent to the S bank of the River Liffey and roughly halfway along the Great South Wall breakwater (DU018-066----; DU019-029002-), that runs from Ringsend in the W to the lighthouse at the E end of the breakwater, that marks the S approach to Dublin Port (6m OD). The main shipping channel into Dublin Port is located adjacent to the N while the areas adjacent to the S, SE and SW are now characterised by modern heavy development (mainly industrial complexes and structures) that have been established on reclaimed land to the S, SW and SE of the wall during the course of the twentieth century. The signal station at the Pigeon House Fort was the terminating station along the signal station chain. The adjacent signal station\tower in the chain was located on Dalkey Hill (DU023-072----), located c. 9.6kms to the SE, which cannot currently be viewed from this site as it is obscured by trees located the N side of Dalkey Hill. The approximate location of this signal station at the Pigeon House Fort is located c. 1.8kms to the E of a church site (DU018-054001-) and associated graveyard (DU018-054002-) located at Irishtown, and c. 2.1kms W\WSW of a battery (DU019-028----) located along the Great South Wall. The E end of South Wall (initially a piled structure) was initially commenced\constructed 1717-56, and extended\improved to the W between 1748-59, and finally completed with the construction of the Great South Wall between 1761-92. The piece of land at the midway point (later the site of the fort and, presumably, the signal station) was first developed in the mid-eighteenth century with the construction of a 'blockhouse' (DU019-027----), for storage of materials for use in the construction of the Great South Wall, a revenue barracks (later used as a military hospital), and later by the construction of the Pigeon House Hotel 1793-5 that still survives (this later was used as officers’ quarters). The civilian facilities here were taken over by the military during the 1798 rebellion and were gradually developed into a major fortification (particularly from 1814) called the ‘Pigeon House Fort’ (Hartnett McEnery 2006, 51-2; Shaffrey Associates Architects 2011, 16). The Pigeon House Fort was maintained by the Department of War from 1814-97. At its peak, facilities at the complex included gates with drawbridges, barracks for officers and men, a hospital, armoury, magazine and stores. A description of the site (ref. not known) from 1837 records ‘The Pigeon-house fort is situated on the south wall, midway between Ringsend and the Lighthouse, and comprises a magazine, arsenal, and custom-house, the whole enclosed with strong fortifications, and garrisoned by 16 officers of foot and artillery and 201 men, with stabling for 13 horses and a hospital for 17 men. Adjoining the fort is a basin, 900 feet by 450, intended for the packet station; but since the formation of Howth and Kingstown harbours has not been used’. The early fortifications are clearly depicted on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1843; part of this complex may survive in rough ground to the S side of the modern road that cuts through the former fort site (aerial photograph c. 2020). In 1804 a signal station was established at Pigeon House Fort. A signal mast is likely to have been the only new feature constructed specifically for the signal station (Kerrigan 1995, 276). The signal crew were likely accommodated in existing buildings to site, perhaps at the now demolished barracks shown on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map of 1843, to the S end of the fort complex. The signal officer may have been housed in the officer’s quarters, located in the repurposed Pigeon House Hotel, the only major building that still survives today (Shaffrey Associates Architects 2011, 17, 82-4). There are no physical components at the site which can be identified as specifically being associated with the signal station, and the location of the signal mast is not known; this may have been located along the Great South Wall, possibly at the battery (DU019-028----). The signal station 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 Malin Head in Donegal to Dublin Bay. It was abandoned by the mid-1810s when the treat of a French invasion diminished (Kerrigan 1995, 157-66). Compiled by: Stuart Rathbone Uploaded on: 11/10/22