Pete's Irish Lighthouses

This is the only picture I can find of the original Youghal lighthouse. The current light was erected in 1852 on 'almost' the exact site of this tower which, according to most sources, went up in 1190 or 1202. Youghal had been recently peopled by men-at-arms and traffickers from Bristol, and to ensure mariner safety, a light tower was constructed and placed under the management of the nuns of The Chapel of St. Anne's. The nuns faithfully lit torches to guide ships into Youghal harbour at night until 1542 when the nunnery was abandoned and torn down at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. The light tower appears to be have been the only part of the building to survive,  The above drawing by William Willes gives a good idea of the lighthouse's appearance, though by that time, the tower had been allowed to deteriorate for nearly 300 years. The roof had perished and the stairs were so decayed that it was dangerous to get to the top of the tower, a portion...

Back in July , I had a long and ultimately fruitless walk up the length of Rossbeigh Spit to try and find the Castlemaine Beacon. Sadly, we didn't see it and we didn't even get the benefit of admiring the stunning coastal scenery of Glenbeigh as it was a very windy and rainy day. Furthe renquiries revealed that the beacon, which had been severely damaged by weather and coastal erosion and had been listing at a crazy angle, finally succumbed to the elements in February 2011. That could easily have been the end of the story. A light that had stood for over 150 years gone, swept away. Another lost lighthouse to add to the already formidable collection around our coastline - Cranfield Point, Wicklow old low light, Calf Rock, Horse Rock, the pair of lights on Oyster Island, Belfast Harbour etc etc. But the good people of Glenbeigh had other ideas and painstakingly collected the stones from the original tower (which had become cut off from the mainland at high tide) to ...

And so to the final lighthouse on my North coast day out - Wyon (or Wine) Point, marking the southern entrance to the Sound of Aran. Not a classic lighthouse, another white concrete hut, 16 feet tall, in fact but tricky to get to and an army protecting it from nosey lighthouse freaks. I had tried to find this place eight years ago and failed miserably. You need to head to Maghery, west of Dungloe. On entering the village, take the innocuous looking turn to the right, keeping the sports pitch on your left hand side. This brings you onto Inishfree Island, which is not really an island at all. The road is extremely narrow and bendy and up and downy but keep going for about a half a mile (ignoring the turn to the left marked Cul de sac) until you come to a sort of a T-junction. I say "sort of" because, really, the only navigable road lies to the right. The 'road' to the left deteriorates into a minefield of potholes. Unfortunately, this is the road you want. E...

Inishsirrer is a skinny island off the northernmost part of western Ireland. It is about 1 mile long by 0.4 miles wide. It used to have a small population but they are long gone. On the northern end of it sits a concrete hut. I have no idea why the Lighthouse Directory lists it as a lighthouse while other concrete huts of the same style and size (Ravedy Island etc) fail to qualify but an official lighthouse it is. It consists of a white square concrete hut 13 feet tall, sitting at an elevation of 65 feet. The light characteristic is Fl.W. period 3.7s fl. 0.7s, ec. 3s, if that makes any sense. Best place to see it? Well you can see it from Bloody Foreland, but a couple of miles down the R257 somewhere near Brinlack is probably your best bet without hiring a boat. Best time to see it? Well, it was after 5 o'clock by the time I got here and the sun was just at the wrong angle. From Bloody Foreland, the hut was just a silhouette but at least I gort a bit of light a...

Eight years ago , I made the boat trip from hell from Meenlaragh, near Bloody Foreland, to Tory Island. The island was fascinating, the light was brilliant, the sea journey bloody awful. I remember clinging to the mast in a downpour as the waves crashed over the boat, trying desperately hard not to be sick. I was amused to read on my blog from that time that only a quarter of an hour into the boat trip did the island come into view. On this beautiful sunny Sunday, Tory Island lay stretched out like a basking seal, its distinctive lighthouse, a beatific thumbs-up from the island that time forgot. Built in 1832, the tower is 131 feet tall. The island is 9 miles from the coast of Donegal and its about 3 miles long by half a mile wide. It has a High King and less than a hundred other permanent residents.

One of the nice things about lighthouse hunting is that it takes you off the beaten track to places you wouldn't normally visit. So it was with Bloody Foreland, on the very north-west tip of Ireland. Driving along the N69, you branch off westwards at Gortahork and then follow the signs for Bloody Foreland. Eventually the road becomes a track which becomes a series of potholes which brings you to a gate on top of the promontory. Fortunately the beacon is visible from there, casting its lonely light over towards Tory Island. 55° 09.5´ N 8° 17.0´ W should get you to the point I got to. The white concrete hut is 12 feet in high and sits at an elevation of 47 feet. It has a flashing white and green light, dependent on the sector

Front light From Ballywhoriskey (previous post) it wasn't a long drive to Portnablagh on the main N56 heading west. The route goes across the modern Mulroy Bridge, a most incongruous sight among the fantastic scenery. When coming into Portnablagh (or Portnablahy) there is a sharp turn to the right, leading down around the beach to the pier, from where the best views of the two beacons are.  55° 10.8´ N 7° 55.6´ W Front light There is a front and a rear light here. The front beacon is mounted on a plinth set on some large rocks just off shore, off which a handful of children were jumping. The rear beacon is situated at the back of the beach on the roadside. When lined up they presumably demonstrate safe passage for vessels coming into the pier, off which another handful of children were jumping.  Rear light The front light has a red band on a white concrete beacon. The light itself is 16 feet above sea level. It has an Occulting white light (the ...

After spending more time than I had bargained for at Fanad, I had to adjust my plans slightly with regards the light on Ravedy Island. Although not a lighthouse worthy of inclusion in the Lighthouse Directory, nevertheless it seemed a large enough structure to merit inclusion in the blog. Therefore I drove west along the beautiful coast from Fanad until I reached a T-Junction. The main road went right but left led to Ballywhoriskey (not signposted) from where I had previously read, I might be able to catch a distance glimpse of Ravedy without a long trek down to Mulroy and up the other side of the peninsula to a caravan park and then a walk from there. Actually the walk comes across as quite exciting - don't attempt it in stormy weather, only cross the bridge at the bottom of a steep flight of steps at low tide etc, etc  - but the day was running away on me. There were a handful of people at Ballywhoriskey on the beach or on the rocks. Road a bit pot-holed but nothing t...

Standing just to the east of the tower inside the lighthouse compound is the Fanad Head fog station. At least, the guides told me it was a fog signal station. I can't find any reference to a fog signal station at Fanad, but that doesn't mean there isn't one.

I had of course been to Fanad before but decided to make the long trip up again in order to try and find evidence of the original lighthouse that had stood on the spot. Bill Long's "Bright Lights" book says the current light was built close to the original light. CIL's official page for the lighthouse also states " Construction went ahead and a new larger and higher tower, close to the original tower was built..."   So there would surely have been some evidence of this tower. A circle of stones? A stump of a tower? I paid my fiver in and circumnavigated the tower three times but saw nothing conclusive. The line being given by the guides at the Tower was that no, the new tower simply was an extension of the old tower and when I said that I thought otherwise, they seemed very interested but said they had seen nothing that might suggest an old tower, apart from maybe the domed post above set on the cliff edge. However this seems a bit shorter than the ...

The Lighthouse with Helipad, Malin Head in the background Fanad Head is one of the much- vaunted Great Lighthouses of Ireland, a series of 12 Irish Lights that CIL have developed for tourism purposes. The last time I was here was in 2008 and it was a long drive up then but a beautiful one. Just keep driving north, following the signs for  Cionn na Fhanada. When you get to the T-junction, turn right and the lighthouse will appear in about 3kms. 55°16.575' North 07°37.921' West This light is classified as a sea light as distinct from a harbour light although it does mark the entrance into Lough Swilly which forms a natural harbour of refuge. In 1812 the frigate  Saldana  was wrecked on Fannet Point, as it was called then, and became a total loss except for the ship's parrot which bore a silver collar inscribed  Saldana .  Fannet Point Lighthouse was first lit on 17 March 1817. Its fixed or non-flashing catoptric light showed red to sea ...