Marine navigation Beacon, (Gowland Beacon), Granagh (off coast), Portaferry, Co Down is a Grade B2 listed building in the Ards and North Down local planning authority area, Northern Ireland. First listed on 8 March 2006.
Marine navigation Beacon, (Gowland Beacon), Granagh (off coast), Portaferry, Co Down
- WRENN ID
- vast-entrance-sparrow
- Grade
- B2
- Local Planning Authority
- Ards and North Down
- Constituency
- Strangford MP: Jim Shannon (DUP)
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Date first listed
- 8 March 2006
- Irish grid reference
- J 600 484
- Coordinates
- 54.35931, -5.53883
- Source
- NI Environment Agency listing
Description
A navigation beacon, possibly of mid to late 19th-century construction and still in use, stands on a small rocky outcrop or island at the entrance to Strangford Lough, near Portaferry. This is one of a pair of such beacons, the other located on the opposite coast of the Lough. The structure resembles a small, round tower approximately 8 metres high, tapering from a base of around 2 metres in width to a light at the top, which is approximately 0.5 metres in width. The beacon may have been built between 1840 and 1859 and was likely originally oil-fired. According to the Commission of Irish Lights, it should be classified as a ‘lighthouse’ due to the presence of a light at the top. The structure is of industrial archaeological interest and holds local historical and social, cultural, or economic importance. It is noted for its style, proportions, and setting. Primary sources include Ordnance Survey maps from 1860, and information was received from the Commission of Irish Lights.
Local climate
Marine navigation Beacon, (Gowland Beacon), Granagh (off coast), Portaferry, Co Down receives an average of 920 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 70% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 81% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 4 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 98% of listed buildings. Of these, 2 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- No flood data for this area
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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