The Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Radio and Communications Museum is located in the Martello Tower in Dublin's seaside Howth district. It houses radio, telegraph and television receivers and transmitters, old records and turntables, as well as amateur broadcasting stations, including those broadcasting in the Morse code.
The Martello Tower was built at the beginning of the 18th century in connection with the threat of Napoleonic invasion of the British Isles. It was used until the middle of the century by the Coast Guard. In 1952 it became the terminal of the cable telegraph from Wales, and in 1903 Lee de Forest presented the operation of the wireless telegraph here. In 1905, Marconi used the tower to demonstrate longwave radio transmission. From 1922 to the 1980s, the building was in the hands of the Ministry of Post and Communications.
In 2003, a radio and communication museum was opened in the tower. Its base was the collection amassed by Pat Herbert, who became the museum's curator. It has in its collection old radios, TV sets, telegraphs, amateur radio stations, turntables and records. The curator is also a guide who guides visitors through the world of former communication.