Scattery Island (Inis Cathaigh) was the bailiwick of St. Senan, who, like St Kevin of Glendalough, was one of Ireland's great misogynistic saints. It lies off Kilrush at the mouth of the Shannon estuary and for many years was the headquarters of the river pilot industry on the Shannon.
Pete's Irish Lighthouses
A blog about Irish Lighthouses past and present and other selected maritime beacons and buoys of interest. If anybody has any corrections or additional info on any post, please use the comment section or the email address on the right.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Scattery Island lighthouse
Scattery Island (Inis Cathaigh) was the bailiwick of St. Senan, who, like St Kevin of Glendalough, was one of Ireland's great misogynistic saints. It lies off Kilrush at the mouth of the Shannon estuary and for many years was the headquarters of the river pilot industry on the Shannon.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
The darkness before the light
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Girls, girls, girls...
Up until the 1860s, lightkeeping was a very male job, at least officially. The men got paid for keeping the light, whilst the women kept the house, did the cooking, reared the children and, doubtless, kept the light as well, whenever hubby got man flu or there was a match on the telly. Of course, there was a lot of physicality to the work in the old days, so I shouldn't really diss the male keeper. My point is that women did their fair share of lightkeeping too.
Saturday, November 11, 2023
A poem by William Redmond (aged 190)
Haulbowline light, Carlingfored Lough c.1906
I came across the following poem in an old Beam magazine and, of course, I had to follow it through to its logical conclusion.
Sunday, November 5, 2023
I see a lighthouse and I want it painted, Black
Sherkin Island lighthouse, freshly painted (note the brightly painted Baltimore Beacon, easily visible in the background)
Saturday, October 28, 2023
The case of the invisible lighthouse
(Lee Maginnis, lighthouse enthusiast (providing they are built of certain materials and are of a certain size) from county Down, sea-swimmer, athlete, journalist and goatherd, writes this post on one of the Irish lighthouses that never gets a look in - Ardglass)
Probably the oldest clubhouse in the world. Ardglass Golf Club claims the clubhouse was founded in 1405!! Maybe the clubhouse was founded and the golf followed a few hundred years later?
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Good news from the East Coast of Ireland Part 2.
The light really came into its own with the building of the Dundalk and Greenore Railway in the 1860s. Shipping routes to Heysham and Fleetwood brought prosperity to the area and a large hotel was built to accommodate visitors.
Unfortunately, the partition of the country saw the port go into decline as northern travellers to Britain often didn't fancy journeying to the Free State to avail of shorter shipping routes. The lighthouse was discontinued in 1986 and has sat disconsolately behind a wall and a locked gate ever since.
I commented on its dilapidated appearance in my 2014 post and, in fact, put the sorry-looking light on the second version of my lighthouse fatalities book last year. The lighthouse itself was dirty and unkept but of more serious concern was the adjoining cottage, which had windows smashed and slates missing from the roof. The writing seemed to be on the very grubby wall for Greenore lighthouse.