Marconi

Did the first attempt to carry out radio transmission experiments take place in Northern Ireland? According to elderly inhabitants Marconi arrived in Ballycastle with his right-hand man, George Kemp and young Edward Glanville, armed with strange wire devices in 1899. Details of this historic event remain unclear, as accounts also tell of the unfortunate death of Edward Granville taking place on Sunday 21st July 1894 when he tragically fell off a cliff on Rathlin Island.

This material is courtesy of the UTV Archive. Evidence suggests that ‘Marconi’s Cottage’, situated on the shoreline, at the end of the road before Fair Head, was not where the reception of transmissions were received. It has been pointed out that the former Antrim County Council, misled by local Post Office officials, put a plaque on the cottage - not only was it at the wrong location but the date on the plaque of 1904 was also wrong. There are other circulating rumours claiming that the transmissions were not the first ones of its type over water and were rather a part of the development of this revolutionary form of communication - wireless telegraphy. Who knows where the truth lies …