Marconi Blocks, East Lighthouse, Rathlin Island, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6RT is a listed building in the Causeway Coast and Glens local planning authority area, Northern Ireland. 1 related planning application.
Marconi Blocks, East Lighthouse, Rathlin Island, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6RT
- WRENN ID
- hallowed-granite-swallow
- Grade
- Local Planning Authority
- Causeway Coast and Glens
- Constituency
- North Antrim MP: Jim Allister (TUV)
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Irish grid reference
- D 161 520
- Coordinates
- 55.30152, -6.17133
- Source
- NI Environment Agency listing
Description
Located just outside the lighthouse grounds on Rathlin Island, are three concrete blocks set into the ground. These blocks, likely dating between 1900 and 1919, served as anchor stays for a mast erected by Lloyds of London, the shipping insurers. The mast was associated with a watch house used for observing transatlantic shipping, with wireless communication relayed to Lloyd's London headquarters.
The blocks are positioned in a line: the first is 13 meters south of the gated entrance to the lighthouse grounds, the second 24 meters beyond that, and the third a further 35 meters on. Each block is approximately 60cm by 60cm in plan. Originally, the name "LLOYDS" was cast into their tops, but due to weathering, only "LOY" is now readable on the first block, "LLOYD" on the second, and the inscription is indecipherable on the third.
In 1898, George Kemp and Edward Glanville, assistants to Guglielmo Marconi, demonstrated wireless telegraphy to Lloyds of London officials. A Morse signal was transmitted wirelessly from an aerial strung from the East Light tower and received in Ballycastle. Following this demonstration, Lloyds built a signal station—a watch house and mast—on the plot beside the lighthouse. The blocks are of industrial archaeological interest and their extent of listing comprises the foundation stones of the former tower and mast structure.
Local climate
Marconi Blocks, East Lighthouse, Rathlin Island, Ballycastle, Co Antrim, BT54 6RT sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,340 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 96% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 97% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 1 freeze-thaw cycle a year, fewer than 99% of listed buildings. Of these, 1 follows 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
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- 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.
Nearby listed buildings
- Lighthouse, fog signal buildings and structures, East Light, Ballycarry Td, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim
- Lightkeeper's house, East Light, Ballycarry Td, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim
- Semidetached lightkeepers' houses, House 2 (NE), East Light, Ballycarry Td, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim
- Semidetached lightkeepers' houses, House 1 (SW), East Light, Ballycarry Td, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim
- Telephone Kiosk, Opposite the Boat House, Rathlin Island, Co Antrim
- Kelp Store, Ouig, Rathlin Island
- Mill, Mill Bay, Rathlin Island
- Rathlin Island, 1B Knockans, Ballycastle, Co Antrim BT54 6RT
- Brockley Cottage, Brockley, Ballygill Middle, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, BT54 6RT
- South Light, Rue Point, Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim