Tower No. 7
The Model
The Tower itself
No. 7 Tower was part of the defences of Killiney Bay against a possible French invasion in the period 1804 to 1815. The other towers and batteries have suffered a variety of fates, but this one was rescued and restored to its original glory and function by Niall O'Donoghue, who has thereby done the State and the people of Ireland no small service.
The project has been long and meticulous and the cannon on the (almost) finished Tower was inaugurated with much ceremony, jollity and efficiency on the 12th of July 2008. The newly cast cannon was successfully fired and a blaze of colour was added by the Redcoat finery and arms of the firing party and their escort. Musket volleys were also fired as a teaser to the main event.
You can get some general background to the Martello towers, with particular reference to the examples in Dublin Bay, here and here.
The Model
Hover the cursor to identify the elements of the site.
This fantastic scale model of the site was built by Niall's son in law, Terry Murray (), and he presented it to Niall as a father's day present.
He spent alot of time studying and drawing the Tower plans before building and putting it together. In the course of this it becames apparent to Terry how much skill and effort went into the building of the the real Tower and he gives a "hats off to them men". Terry has built a lot of models over the years but he feels this one was by far the best because of the challenge it posed.
A great advantage of the model is that it allows you to view the site from angles that would be possible only from a helicopter in real life.
So, enjoy some of the views below and don't forget to thank the builder and the pilot.
Some points of detail about the Model:
- It is a Scale model of approx 1:100 scale.
- It took about two years to complete (working time about 2,000 hours give or take).
- The base is made of Styrofoam and wood.
- The Gunners cottage, Guard room, walls and Tower are made from Balsa wood.
- The Guns and traversing timber carriages were hand made (Balsa & Soft Metal).
- The trees are plastic and foam, the gravel is real, with fake grass, all held on by wood glue .
- The Model Tower is split into three pieces The Base, First Floor & the upper part of the tower; they can be lifted off to reveal the inside of the model.