Bray Tower is a signal tower located on

Valentia Island Valentia Island () is one of Republic of Ireland, Ireland's most westerly points. It lies in Dingle Bay off the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of County Kerry. It is linked to the mainland by the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge at Portmagee ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

, Ireland. The tower was built in 1805 by the British Board of Ordnance during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. It was one of 81 signal towers built between 1804 and 1806 along the Irish coast to communicate naval activity in response to a possible French invasion. The tower was abandoned sometime during the mid-1810s. Bray Tower was used as a Naval War Signal Station during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In August 2020, the Kerry County Council submitted a proposal with

An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided major strategic infra ...

to preserve Bray Tower and construct a rooftop viewing platform. Bray Tower was included as a proposed addition to the

Record of Protected Structures Conservation in the Republic of Ireland is overseen by a number of statutory and non-governmental agencies, including those with responsibility for Historic preservation, conservation of the built environment and Environmental protection, conservat ...

as part of the Draft Kerry County Development Plan 2022–2028.https://consult.kerrycoco.ie/sites/default/files/6%20Proposed%20Protected%20Structures.pdf

References

Towers in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Kerry Towers completed in 1805