Signal tower in Brownstown

The exact site of this former signal station\tower is not known but it was sited close to this point at Brownstown Head (OD c. 31m). It was probably originally located c. 60m to the NE of the tip of Brownstown Head somewhere between the two prominent cylindrical rubble stone beacons (NIAH Reg. No. 22902609) that occupy the site today (see below). The surrounding landscape is characterised by an area of generally level terrain that rises gradually to the NNE with low steep rocky sea cliffs located adjacent to the coastline to the immediate W, S and E of the probable site. The area is characterised by pastureland that is enclosed by mainly regular linear field boundaries. The adjacent stations in the signal station\tower chain were located at Islandikane (WA026-097----), located c. 7.8kms to the W, now demolished, and at Hook Head, County Wexford (WX054-010001-), located c. 12.2kms to the E, where a signal station was established using existing building(s) to site (lighthouse; WX054-010----) for the accommodation of the signal crew. The site of this signal station at Brownstown Head is located c. 5.2kms WSW of a church site (WA027-041001-) at Rathmoylan, and c. 1.95kms WSW of a coastal promontory fort (WA027-037----) located on a short narrow peninsula at Coolum to the (c. 400m) W of Beenlea Head. The signal station\tower at Brownstown Head has been demolished and its exact position or original form is not known. The signal station\tower was demolished at an early stage, and it is not depicted on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1839-41. Kerrigan established that a signal tower had been constructed at the site by 1805, and that the signal mast was erected by 1804 (Kerrigan 1995, 276). Two large cylindrical rubble stone navigation beacons (NIAH Reg. No. 22902609) were constructed on Brownstown Head 1819-21, and it is possible\probable that the masonry used in the construction of these may have been sourced from the abandoned signal station\tower to site. It is of note that the signal station\tower is not shown on Larkin’s 1818 map of County Waterford (the locations\sites of the other signal stations constructed along the Waterford coastline are depicted on this cartographic source), suggesting that it was no longer extant by this time. The two beacons both survive to their full original height and are prominent features on the headland. Both beacons are indicated on the Ordnance Survey map, surveyed 1839-1841, located on an unenclosed headland. A well-preserved World War II-era Lookout Post (LOP 17; NIAH Reg. No. 22902610) is located c. 40m to the S\SSE of the probable site of the signal station\tower. It is notable that the majority of the signal stations\towers (5 out of the 6 that were built c. 1804-5) in Waterford were demolished by the time of the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map series, which is in contrast to the situation for the signal stations in other counties along the Irish coastline. There were concerns expressed (in writing) in 1811 by a Mr. Pope, Waterford Agent of the London Assurance Company, that the disused signal station\towers along the Waterford coastline were causing confusion for seafarers who were mistaking these for lighthouses (particularly Hook Head, Wexford) in poor weather, which led to a number of shipwrecks along the Waterford coastline (around Tramore in particular) in c. 1810. These concerns were apparently acted upon with the demolition of a signal station somewhere close to Tramore (probably this particular example at Brownstown Head) by the end of 1811. Perhaps other signal stations in Waterford were also demolished for the same reasons around this time. 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 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 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: 03/10/22