Martello Tower — Shanganagh

Mahera Point, Shanganagh Martello Tower No. 4 and two batteries (Kerrigan 1995, 170). According to Kerrigan (1995, 168) construction of the Dublin area Martello Towers and their batteries commenced in 1804 under the supervision of Colonel Benjamin Fisher of the Royal Engineers and by December 1805 all towers were armed and complete. Kerrigan (ibid., 170) recorded that; ‘The towers and batteries south of Dublin are numbered from 1 to 16, but there were only fourteen towers, as at two locations there were batteries only, while several of the towers were close to adjacent batteries’. The martello tower and two batteries at Mahera Point was located above the beach, E of the disused railway line. Annotated 'Battery' on 1837 ed. OSi 6-inch map. Annotated 'Martello Tower (Disused)' on the 1863 ed. OSi 25-inch map. Not indicated on the Cassini ed. OSi 6-inch map. There is no visible trace of the martello tower and its disappearance may have resulted from coastal erosion. Taylor's 1816 map shows a tower and battery here. Described by Kerrigan (1995, 171) as; 'tower no. 4, flanked by two batteries. Another mid-nineteenth-century plan depicts this tower with semi-circular glacis to the east and west, with a battery some 500 feet to the south and a similar battery 500 feet to the north. The tower and batteries stood on the cliff some sixty feet above the beach; the coastline has suffered from erosion here and the tower was dismantled in the early years of this century. Large pieces of masonry on the beach here may be from the Martello, but there seems to be no trace of the two batteries, each of which presumably mounted two guns, four 24-pounders and one 18-pounder were listed for no. 4 in December 1805'. See attached Taylor's 1816 Map showing the location of the Battery and the Martello Tower. Taylor, J. 1816 Taylor's map of the environs of Dublin: extending 10 to 14 miles from the castle, by actual survey, on a scale of 2 inches to one mile. Photo © http://www.photopol.com/martello/killiney_bay.html Compiled by: Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Fated of revised upload: 23 January 2023