Malahide Beach Photo

Hick's Tower, Malahide, Co. Dublin

Hicks Tower, which is a converted Martello Tower. One of 74 such towers built in Ireland between 1804 and 1815, Malahides tower was built in 1805 by the British Government in fear of a Napoleonic landing in Ireland. The walls of Hicks Tower are 6ft. thick and the ground floor stored 30 barrels of gunpowder, cannon balls and water tanks with a capacity of 465 gallons. The first floor housed the living and sleeping quarters for the soldiers while the top floor, with a parapet, held a 24 pounder cannon. The tower was built to be bomb-proof and the original entrance was 10 feet from the ground. The swivel gun on the parapet had a range of approximately one mile. No nails, only wooden pegs were used in its construction, in case a spark from a soldiers boot would blow the tower asunder. The mortar, holding the granite blocks together, is exceptionally strong, as it is comprised of lime, ash, hot wax and ox-blood. Architect, Frederick Hicks took over the tower in 1910 and, with colossal labour, cut windows in the wall and added a roof and made it into a home.

© Peter Gerken and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence