History
Standing Stones is around two miles south west of Ballygomartin. Between them is the peak of Divis Mountain and the two sites therefore served served distinct purposes. Both were linked by cable to Belfast. Standing Stones was established as the terminal for a link between Belfast and Dublin which entered service around 1970. Initially only a single dish was used, supported on a small version of the modular "daffodil" tower as used at Sibleys. The only other known use of this type of structure was at the next site, Deadman's Hill.
The link continued to Dublin via two sites in the Republic of Ireland. Information from a 1971 article in the Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal confirms the route was built by Philips (rather than one of the usual suppliers) primarily for telephony. The main EBU ("Eurovision") link serving Dublin is now understood to have been by arrangement between the BBC and RTE but a link via Standing Stones was available for occasional television use. In the late 1970s an extension was added beyond Dublin, running to Manchester via Holyhead. There was some controversy in subsequent years when it was said British military traffic was sometimes routed over the link to Dublin due to capacity problems between Ballygomartin and Carlisle.
A further link was added at Standing Stones in the late 1970s, towards Mullaghmore. In the 1980s a new route from Belfast via Slieve Croob became operational - it is unclear whether the link via Standing Stones was retained but a BBC network diagram from the mid-1980s shows a route to RTE running as cable from Belfast to Standing Stones.
Due to the local terrain and relatively short structure it seems the site was not suited to more general communications use - the tower had been removed by 2008. The building remained, unchanged, within its compound as of May 2015 but a planning application was approved in April 2016: "tourist amenity complex...extension and alterations... [to provide] seven bedroom guest house and one self-catering unit..."
