Survey Data
Reg No
40908901
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical
Previous Name
Malin Beg Signal Tower
Original Use
Signal tower
Date
1800 - 1810
Coordinates
148960, 379696
Date Recorded
31/10/2007
Date Updated
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Description
Freestanding three-storey former signal tower on square-plan, built c. 1805, having machicolations to the corners of the east elevation and with central machicolation to the west elevation at parapet level. Now out of use and derelict. Flat roof, now collapsed, originally hidden behind raised parapet having cut stone coping over. Rubble stone chimneystack to the centre of the east elevation. Remains of cantilevered stone walkways at parapet level. Constructed of rubble and roughly squared rubble stone masonry with flush roughly-squared quoins to the corners. Slightly battered/splayed to base. Evidence of lime roughcast render surviving in places. Ashlar stone supports/corbels to machicolations. Square-headed window openings having cut stone sills, cut stone surrounds, and with cut stone block-and-start surrounds with keystone detail at first floor level and cut stone surrounds with keystone detail to ground floor openings. Rubble stone relieving arches over a number of window openings. Probable former square-headed former doorway to the south elevation; surround now missing. Remains of fireplace to the east elevation at ground floor level having recesses to either side; fireplace with cantilevered hearth stone at second floor level over. Recess at ground floor level to west elevation. Located in prominent location on peninsula jutting out into Atlantic Ocean with Malin Bay to the north and Donegal Bay to the south-east; located a short distance to the south-west of Malin Beg.
Appraisal
This notable former Napoleonic-era signal tower occupies a dramatic coastal location, and is a prominent local landmark in the scenic landscape to the south-west Malin Beg This structure is one of upwards of eighty such buildings that were constructed along the west, south, south-east and north-west coastlines of Ireland by British authorities between 1804 and 1806 in reaction to the various French invasion attempts in the 1790s, particularly the 1798 French landing at Killala in County Mayo. Signal towers were generally built to the same plan, although some slight regional variations are found. They worked on a signalling system using ball and flag methods, where various messages could be transmitted from station to station, quickly raising the alarm in case of the siting of enemy vessels and fleets etc. A c. fifty foot mast was positioned on the seaward side of the signal tower where the flags and balls would be hoisted so that the next signal tower could see the message and pass it on to the adjacent one and so forth. In order to cut construction costs etc., signal towers are, as a rule, located on high ground with a clear line of sight over the sea and to the neighbouring towers to either side (in this case with Glen Head (see 40908001) to the north and Carrigans Head to the south-east – see 40909602). Therefore, the presence of a signal tower guarantees spectacular views and situations, as is the case here at Malin Beg. Following the Royal Navy’s (under Nelson) victory over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the threat of invasion diminished substantially, and by 1809 the decision was made to abandon the signal towers that are dotted along the Irish coastline. These structures now act as tangible historical documents of this era in Irish history, and are appealing landmarks of some picturesque value along the Irish coastline. This example at Malin Beg is notable in that it survives in particularly good condition, and it is one of the few buildings of its type that still retains the high quality cut stone surrounds to the openings (these have been robbed from other sites). This signal tower cost £696 to construct. The construction of this signal station at Malin Beg and a number of others in Donegal was overseen by Major-General Sir Charles Ross, and the engineer involved may have been a Sir William Smith, who was responsible for a number of the Donegal signal towers.