Torr Head

Torr Head (W A Green/ Ulster Museum)

TORR HEAD, the Parliamentary Gazetteer of about 1844 remarks, is a headland in the parish of Culfeightrin, barony of Cary, County Antrim.

It screens the south side of Murlough Bay, is situated five miles north of Cushendun, and is the nearest point of the mainland nearest to Scotland, being directly opposite the Mull of Kintyre.

It consists of mica slate, with subordinate beds of limestone, syenite, and feldspar porphyry; but in the bay to the north of it are most interesting columnar formations of trap rock, and on the loftier portions of the hills behind it are beds of sandstone and chalk, capped in some instances with basalt.

It may be regarded as a mere projection of the cliffs of Cushleake; and it is immediately overhung by the hill of Cairnlea, whose summit has an altitude above sea-level of 1,250 feet.

The scenery of the headland itself and of the bay which it screens, is singularly grand, yet very little known.

"Soon after we turned from the main road towards the coast," say Mr and Mrs Hall, "we entered a wild district, walked along a barren heath, looked upon Torr Point, stood above the several headlands, gazed, until we became giddy, upon giant rocks, from the summits of terrific cliffs, and commenced a descent into the bay of Murlough."

"There are spots - small unrecorded places - nooks hid beneath cliff or mountain, mere corners of the island, that altogether escape the tourist who bowls along the splendid rocks which render the great leading features of the scenery of the county of Antrim so easy of examination."

"Let the visitor on no account omit to inspect this bay - a scene of unspeakable grandeur and beauty."

Torr Head is a coastguard station; and the fisheries within its district were worked by 73 men, with one open sail-boat and 17 row-boats.

Torr Head (Historic OS map); click to enlarge

The Government established a revenue station at Torr Head ca 1730 in order to combat smuggling.

A century later, in 1832, a signal staff stood at the summit of the headland; and a few buildings also existed at Boat Port, a cove to the south of Torr Head.

These buildings were a water guard's house and a boat house.

This establishment had been under the control of the Board of Customs since 1822.

The coastguard houses were erected ca 1879.

The former station subsequently became a station and watch house.

In 1898 Guglielmo Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi, and his assistants contacted Rathlin Island by radio from Torr Head to prove that wireless communication was a viable proposition. 

The idea was to send notice to London or Liverpool of ships arriving safely after a transatlantic crossing – most vessels on this route would have to pass through the channel north of Rathlin Island. 

Lloyd's of London took a keen interest in this development because until then it relied on semaphore pigeons to relay sightings of ships passing in and out of the North Channel from their watch station at Rathlin’s East Lighthouse to Torr Head.

The Coastguard entered into a formal agreement with Lloyd's of London in 1906, whereby the station would also act as a signal station on the company’s behalf.

The Admiralty retained the right to exclusive use of the station in the event of war; thus, during the 1st World War, Torr Head served as a War Signal Station.

The station and houses were raided for weapons by the IRA in 1920.

The premises were consequently evacuated in September that year.

Torr Head (Image: Freyssinet Ltd)

The coastguard houses were burned to the ground by an arsonist in November.

The station continued in use by the coastguard until the 1970s, until it was sold and became a private dwelling (now derelict).

HM Coastguard operate a radio aerial on the site today.