Old Head Signal Tower

I came to the Old Head of Kinsale for the natural sights, however, I didn’t expect to get a history lesson here. Apparently, there was a ship that was en route to Liverpool that was sunk here by the Germans during the first world war. The point of sinking isn’t that far from the Old Head of Kinsale. The sinking of the Lusitania could be considered as one of the turning points of the war as it paved the way for the United States to join the fray. However, it seems that not everything here all about the the Lusitania. There is an old signal tower here as well. I assumed that the the tower was built for the first world war but it turned out to be something older.

The Old Head Signal Tower is one of several signal towers that were built to defend against Napoleon’s invasion. There were eighty one such towers built all within line of sight of each other. Keep in mind this was all before the era of wireless communication, one signal tower will alert another signal tower and so on. The signal tower here at the Old Head of Kinsale is the 25th one starting from the one in Dublin. While it was built in Napoleonic times, the current tower looks nothing like it. The tower has been restored and even altered to serve as a museum. Again, because of the pandemic restrictions, the museum is closed. I think it would have been an interesting visit since this place touched two different points in history. Apart from that, the view from the tower must be superb, especially knowing that you are supposed to see the next tower from here.

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