Battery, Corran Point, Ordnance Ground — Carrig Island

Situated on Corran Point, at NE end of Carrig Island, overlooking Bunaclugga Bar, 2.8km S of Scattery Island Battery (CL067-024015-) . To the NE lies Moneypoint, to the south lies Carrigafoyle Castle (KE002-045----). The view from this site is excellent in all directions. The surrounding land is pastureland. Annotated 'Battery' on the 1841 ed. OSi 6-inch map and 'Corran Point Battery' on the Cassini ed. OSi 6-inch map. One of six batteries (Kilcredaun CL072-027002-, Doonaha CL066-037001-, Scattery Island CL067-024015-, Kilkerin CL068-046---- and Tarbert KE003-002----) proposed by the Gother Mann Committee as part of the fortification of the Shannon estuary (McEnery 2006, 104). In 1806 Gother Mann, Inspector-General of fortifications, proposed rough costings for artillery fortifications of the Shannon estuary which included Carrig Island Battery and tower which he estimated would cost £6,000 (McEnery 2006, 76). In 1810 the Board of Ordnance approved estimates for the construction of the six artillery fortifications (ibib.). The contract was awarded to Mr. Flattery who excavated the trenches but failed to construct the masonry elements which was awarded to Mr Quillan a second contractor who commenced work on these fortifications in 1812 (ibid.). On August 2nd 1814 master gunners were posted to these batteries including Robert Kinnerbury to Carrig Island battery (ibid., 106). The Master Gunners House is depicted on the 1841 ed. OSi 6-inch map where it is shown standing c. 80m E of the tower of the battery. In 1817, Carrig Island tower and battery was recorded as possessing six 24-pound guns and two 5.5-inch howitzers (ibid., 80). Around the year 1868 the six 24-pound guns at Carrig Island were replaced by more powerful 68-pound smooth bore guns (ibid., 137, 144). According to McEnery (2006, 134, 143) in 1891 the gunners abandoned the Napoleonic defences of Carrig Island Fort. The battery defended the River Shannon with guns mounted on the curving N side of the earthwork as shown on the ground plan of Carrig Island Battery. The slot trench of the curving stonework which carried the guns allowing them to move is still visible. The bombproof rectangular-shaped tower of the battery was constructed of dressed stone and supported two howitzers or a short cannon used to fire projectiles with relatively high trajectories. The North side measures 16.3m in length, It displays a semi-circular headed dressed doorway which has two pulleys attached, possibly to draw up the door. It also displays four small rectangular windows which measures 0.9m in length. The south side has no windows or doorway but in the interior running along the wall from the first floor to the roof is a stairway. The eastern side measures 9.85m in length and displays one large window and two small rectangular ones. The western side also has one large window and four small rectangular ones. Corran Point Battery described by Kerrigan (1995, 210-11) as follows; 'This battery commanded the southern part of the channel between Carrig Island and Scattery Island, a distance of about two miles, so that the passage of the river here was commanded by the two batteries. The moat and ramparts of the Corran Point battery have almost disappeared, the removal of the stonework causing the gradual collapse of the scarp and counterscarp. The guardhouse remains, the doorway having been altered and extended in recent years to form an opening at ground level. The gun platform at roof level with its positions for two guns is approached from the upper floor level by a staircase built within the wall thickness, as at Kilkerin [CL068-046----]. The inner face of the parapet and the banquette are constructed of regular ashlar masonry, the banquette having a shallow groove in the stonework for the iron rail of the traversing mount for each gun. The guardhouse has the usual battered-wall surfaces, constructed of squared rubble built to courses with regular masonry at the quoins and at the door, window and musket-loop openings. Plans indicate that the battery had the same layout as the other Shannon batteries, the curved front of the battery having the inner face of the parapet indented at each gun position, as at Kilkerin. Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, described the work as a battery and bombproof barrack for twenty men; by 1837 it had become a coastguard station'. See attached plan of Battery taken from local information panel Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 6 January 2022