Coast Guard Station (possible) — Cahore

The possible\probable site of this signal station is located c. 85m W of the coastline at its closest point, c. 170ms SSE of the ‘later’ Cahore House (NIAH. Reg. No. 15701735), and c. 270m SSW of the tip of Cahore Point (OD c. 21m). It is sited on generally level terrain with good views in all directions. The surrounding landscape is now characterised by rough pastureland to the immediate NW, W and SW that now accommodates a modern holiday park and holiday accommodation (to W and NW) with the N end of a long sandy beach located c. 250m to the S; the landscape further to the NW, W, and SW (after c. 750m) is characterised by pastureland defined by generally linear field boundaries. The adjacent signal stations in the signal station\tower chain were located Blackwater Head (WX033-043----), located c. 16.7kms to the SSW, site now lost to coastal erosion, and at Kilmichael Point (WX007B003----), located c. 19.8kms to the NNE, where a fragment of the signal station structure may survive as a ruin. The site of this signal station at Cahore Point is located c. 3.5kms NE of the site of a tower house (W022-006----), which may now be incorporated into a later country house (NIAH Reg. No. 15702202) at Peppardstown, and c. 2.53kms SSE of a motte and bailey (WX017-088----) at Glascarrig North. The signal station has been demolished and its exact position or original form is not known. It is possible that it was incorporated into a ‘coast guard station’ (now demolished) indicated on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map of 1839-40, which is something that occurred at a number of signal tower sites around the Irish coastline during the early-to-mid nineteenth century. Kerrigan established that a signal tower had likely been completed at the site by October 1804, and that the signal mast was erected around the same time (Kerrigan 1995, 276). There is no signal station indicated here on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1839-40, though the structure may have been incorporated into a coastguard station by this time (see above). The Ordnance Survey second ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1885-7, shows a new ‘signal station', c. 70m SW of the earlier 'coast guard station' site that is depicted on the Ordnance Survey first ed. six-inch map, and c. 200m ENE of the 'earlier' Cahore House (NIAH Reg. No. 15701739). This signal station is depicted as a small rectangular-plan building (ext. dims c. 17m E-W x c. 9m N-S), marked ‘Signal Station,’ with two smaller structures located c. 55m to the SSE, next to a ‘flagstaff’ that is adjacent to the E. The Ordnance Survey third ed. six-inch map, surveyed 1902-5, shows a single small square-plan building indicated as 'Signal Station' next to the flagstaff (as above), while the earlier 'signal station' building to the NNW is now indicated as a roofless structure. 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 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: 06/10/22