Indicated (as part of lighthouse site) — Eochaill (bar. Árainn)

Situated towards the edge of the northern edge of the summit of the large flat-topped hill that dominates the centre or the island of Inishmore\Inis Mór (126m OD), the largest of the Aran Islands. The signal tower is located on flat ground, but the ground slopes down to the NE where a series of wide ledges lead to the coastline. The surrounding area consists of small irregularly-shaped fields defined by tall drystone walls, containing a mixture of rough pasture and exposed limestone\karst pavement. The signal tower has unobstructed views in all directions except to the SW. Site located c. 1.3kms SSW\S of coastline at its closest point. The well-preserved signal tower (GA110-133001-) at Golam\Gólam Island (off Lettermullen), located c. 12.5kms to the NW, and at Inisheer\Inis Oírr (GA120-016----), located c. 14.3kms to the SE, are both clearly visible during good weather. The signal tower at Inishmore\Inis Mór is located adjacent to a lighthouse (GA110-133002-), and the signal tower itself was apparently temporarily converted for use as a lighthouse before 1818 with the installation of a lantern to the roof. However, this part of the history of the site is unclear, and the signal tower may have been reduced in height to increase the visibility of the light of the new lighthouse. The signal tower was later decommissioned (if the case) as a lighthouse following the construction of the circular-plan lighthouse adjacent to the NE in around 1818 (NIAH), later itself decommissioned in 1857 following the construction of a new lighthouse at Eeragh (NIAH 30411027), Rock Island, to the W of Inishmore\Inis Mór. This signal tower is located c. 175m W of the impressive bivallate cashel known as ‘Dun Eochla’ (GA110-138----), and c. 4.34kms E of the spectacularly-sited cliff-edge fort of Dún Aonghasa (GA110-039----). An early nineteenth-century (c. 1804-6) two-storey square-plan signal tower, built with roughly coursed limestone rubble (int. dims. 4.27m NE-SW x 4.27m NW-SE; wall H 10.1m). The entire exterior is covered in lime render bearing the impression of weather-proof slate cladding, now mostly collapsed or removed, particularly to the lower levels. The upper parts of the walls retain areas of intact slate cladding that remain insitu. The walls face to the NW, NE, SE, and SW directions. The square-headed doorway is located on the first floor level of the SW elevation and would have been originally accessed via a retractable ladder. The doorway retains some of the original cut limestone block-and-start surround, cut stone threshold, and a cut limestone lintel with keystone. The doorway had been protected by a rectangular machicolation, but this has been removed and only the three cut stone corbels that had supported it have survived insitu. Square bartizans had been located on the N and E corners, but, again, these have been removed and only the three cut stone corbels that supported each bartizan are now present. The top of the building was originally taller, but it has been reduced on all sides to the height of the tops of the corbels that had supported the bartizans and the machicolation. The NW and SE elevation each feature two square-headed windows at ground and first floor levels. Sections of the cut stone block-and-start surrounds remain to the first floor window openings. Cut stone sills survive to three of the four window openings to the NW elevations. The window opening to the SW corner of the SE elevation at ground floor level has been later opened up to provide an entrance. The lower halves of the window openings to the SE elevation at first floor level have been infilled with rubble stone masonry. The internal space features a ground floor room, a first floor room, and a low attic level. The flat roof had been accessible from the attic level, and a parapet wall had protected the edge of the roof and connected to the bartizans and the machicolations. The parapet wall has been removed, presumably at the same time the upper portions of the bartizans and the machicolation were removed. The floors and the roof of the building had been woode,n and were carried in the thickness of the wall. No parts of the floors or the roof have survived, but rows of joist holes indicate their former positions. The internal walls are covered in a layer of smooth render. The ground floor and first floor rooms feature centrally-positioned shallow-segmental headed fireplaces (square-headed fireplace at ground floor level) on the NE wall, flanked to either side by large square-headed alcoves. The alcoves at first floor level retain the impressions in the render of four timber shelves to each. The ground floor room has been infilled with soil to the extent that only the upper part of the fireplace is exposed. Because of this infilling it is not possible to determine if the signal tower featured a semi-basement level as seen at many other examples of this building type. A square-sectioned internal drainage channel runs the whole way down the N corner of the building. This is believed to have brought rainwater from the roof to storage barrels in the semi-basement. Three large gabled additions have been added to the NE, SE and SW sides of the signal tower. These additions appear to relate to the possible\probable conversion of the signal tower into a lighthouse around (or before) 1818. The removal of the upper part of the signal tower is likely to have occurred at the same time, when the roof was apparently modified by the addition of a lantern (or the signal tower was reduced in height at this time to make the light of the new lighthouse more visible). The SE and SW additions have survived to their full heights, although both are now missing their steep gabled roofs. The main part of the SE addition is one-and-a-half storeys tall, with a chimneystack on the SE end wall. A single-storey room is located on the SW side of the addition. The SW addition is two stories in height and has an entrance on the NW wall, which had been protected by a now removed gabled porch, the impression of which survives in the render. The NE addition has been demolished, but the impression of a gabled roofline is visible in the render of the signal tower’s wall, and it appears to have been a single-storey building with a steeply gabled roof. Low sections of rubble stone wall to the NE of the tower may be remnants of this addition. The signal tower is located within the NE portion of a rectangular enclosure, defined by a mortared rubble stone wall (int. dims. 55m NE-SW x 20m NW-SE; wall H 1.9m). A pair of cross walls divide the enclosure into NE and SW sections, with the walls running from the corners of the SW addition to the long sides of the enclosure. The wall around the SW half of the enclosure appears to have been rebuilt at the same time that the cross walls were built. The main entrance to the enclosure is through a wide gate at the NE end of the NW wall, which is clearly a secondary feature. A narrower disused gateway near the mid-point of the NW wall may be in the position of the original entrance, although its current form is not original. A cylindrical lighthouse (GA110-133002-) was constructed immediately NE of the signal tower, in the location where the NE addition had stood. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) lists this small well-preserved lighthouse (Reg. No. 30411020) as having a construction date of 1818. World War II-era ‘50, Eire’ sign, formed from rubble stone with cement render to surface, is located c. 185m to the SSE. 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 w