Martello Tower, Point Road, Magilligan, Limavady, Co Londonderry

Martello Tower, Point Road, Magilligan

A large circular fort built of coursed pink sandstone, constructed between 1812 and 1817. It is the only Martello tower extant in Northern Ireland and represents a well-preserved and outstanding example of its type, displaying superb workmanship with superlative examples of stone details.

The structure is built as a truncated cone with pronounced batter rising from a low plinth of rough stones. The immense thick walls contain several small windows and ventilators, all carefully aligned with the coursing. A narrow entrance door is positioned some 3 metres above ground level, centrally placed beneath a projecting shallow gallery. This gallery forms the machicolations and is the only marked punctuation on the external surface. Access to the doorway is by a two-flight metal stairway. Evidence at the bottom corners of the doorway indicates small wheels to engage a rope or chain, suggesting the original arrangement was a raised ramp or drawbridge.

The gallery is supported on five robust stepped and rounded corbels, with bold corbels supporting the machicolations and a subtle change of colour in the stonework above. The walls of the gallery are punctuated with gun slits, some angled to give a wider arc of firing cover. Two rainwater pipes with trunkheads, placed diametrically opposite each other, drain the surface of the gun emplacement.

Martello towers were erected around the coast of Ireland in anticipation of Napoleonic invasion, initially beginning around Dublin in 1804. The Magilligan tower was designed by Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Fisher, with construction carried out by Messrs Henry and Mullins. The sandstone was obtained from a quarry at Ballyharrigan in Bovevagh and the lime from Downhill. The Ordnance Survey Memoirs record that there was an excellent spring within the tower, 16 feet from the surface and level with the tide.

The fort sits among the dunes at the entrance end of Magilligan Point, guarding the narrow entrance opposite Greencastle to Lough Foyle and commanding the North Atlantic approach. A complementary elliptical tower and battery stands on the Inishowen side, along with the remains of the 14th-century De Burgh castle. The Magilligan tower differs from the Greencastle tower in being circular rather than elliptical. Irish Martello towers varied in design but typically preceded the English series and were finished externally in stone, whilst English examples were constructed entirely of brick and plastered. The round form meant the fort would not collapse if undermined. The name derives from Cap Mortella in Corsica, where a successful fortification in 1793–94 impressed British military authorities.

The structure is scheduled as a monument in state care.