Redmond of the Skelligs

The Upper Light at Skellig Micheal with ruins of the keepers houses

Occasionally I get emails from people asking if I know anything about lightkeepers of yore who feature in their family tree. Invariably I don't because I am primarily interested in the lighthouses and have not really made a study of the keepers, but I have an interest in family history and try to help as best I can, or at least set people on the right path.

Last year, I received a letter from a lovely lady called Heather Walker from British Columbia in Canada, asking if I knew anything about her ancestor James Robert Redmond (both first names used!) and his father, Joshua Redmond, both of whom were lightkeepers in the service of Irish Lights (or whatever the association was known as, at the time)

Well, I knew the Redmonds were one of the famous dynasties of Irish lightkeepers but trying to unravel the various strands was both exciting and fascinating. Suffice to say that Joshua Redmond, the father, was born probably around 1796 and, during the time he was a keeper, there were at least two other Redmonds in the same profession (Michael and Peter Redmond), who may or may not have been family.

Sadly, the Commissioners of Irish Lights do not hold records of early lightkeepers, though their records of subsequent keepers are excellent. We know that Joshua served on Skellig Micheal for a long period, but we have had to piece his story there from other sources.

The west-facing side of the island, showing the path between the lighthouses. Little Skellig photobombing back right.

It appears that Joshua was a Dublin man (or possibly Carlow) and he married Mary Hickes at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin in 1819. Of his early career, we know nothing. There is a possibility he may have been a military man before turning his hand to lightkeeping. We know he had a son George born in 1834 on the Arran Islands, on which the only lighthouse is the old, original light in the centre of Inis Mor. This George may well be the same son who met a grisly end on the Skelligs.

From The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle - a Journal of Papers Connected with Maritime Affairs (1856), we learn that Joshua was transferred to Skellig Michael in 1838 and hadn't left it since. 

 

Anyway who has ever visited the Skelligs, or indeed ever seen pictures of it will know that, outside of the monastery,  the island appears to be composed of craggy and impassable rock. On the lighthouse side, there is barely any walkable ground, save for the road between the lighthouses. The Upper Light appears to be stuck to the rock with Bostik and the lower is on a rugged pinnacle jutting out into the sea. How these people reared their children is a complete mystery.

In 1850 and 1851, the Valuation Office paid a visit to 'Skellig Rock Great and Rocks' to determine the taxable amount of the properties to the Revenue. In a footnote, they say that "the island was purchased from James Butler Esq. by the Ballast Company for the sum of £500 in 1820." (I have seen differing amounts for that figure)

The lower lighthouse, says the report, was built in 1820 and was 59 feet in circumference at the base and 45½ feet at 23 feet up. It was 37 feet from the base to the top of the glass.

The Principal Lightkeeper  was Edward Nolan, serving here since 1838 and occupying a house with extension, porch and two offices or outhouses. The Assistant Lightkeeper was John Kelly, also on the Rock since 1838, occupying an extension-less house, porch and two offices.

Up above them sat the Upper Light, 59 feet in circumference at the base and 45½ feet at 20 feet up. It was 34 feet from the base to the top of the glass.

The PK here was 'Josuah' Redmond, with his house porch and two offices, the same accommodation as the assistant, James Butler, another surname synonymous with lightkeepers in Ireland. Joshua was also at the station since 1838, whereas James was the blow-in, only there since 1845!

The Commissioner of Irish Lights official site gives the chronology of the building of the two lighthouses. It states that the tower and dwelling were built of rubble masonry with slate cladding on the outside walls. The dwellings were semi-detached (one house for the Principal Keeper and one for the Assistant) the lower was two-storey, the upper single. Each had attic rooms...  Each house had its own cast iron porch and all four are still in situ. The only "imported" stone was granite for the lantern blocking, tower, floors and stairs, windowsills and certain wall coping stones. 
The building of the lights was fraught with difficulties. Work began on the lower lighthouse in 1820 and only completed in 1826. In contrast, the upper light was started and finished in a few months in 1826.
One of the workmen, Peter Cane,  blew himself up with explosives used for blasting the rock, an accident for which his widow was still receiving a Ballast Board pension in 1859. More worrying, if true, was a letter from an anonymous author to the Freeman's Journal in February 1826. Under the heading "Deplorable Circumstance" the author states that "there are now about forty workmen now on the Skellig Rock, nearly a month without victuals or firing and the weather is so bad that no relief can be given them. The signal of death is constantly flying from the Rock. Two men escaped about a fortnight ago by jumping off and were most miraculously saved by the relief boat, though she could not approach the Rock. The account the men give of their fellow sufferers' privations is melancholy." Whether the letter is accurate or hyperbole is open to question. Certainly the Ballast Board lists Peter Cane as the only fatality of the building of the lights. What is known for certain is that the two lights were exhibited for the first time in December 1826.

One of the first keepers was Michael Wishart, who had been removed from Tuskar Rock after the infamous smuggling episode there. He fell to his death in 1828 while cutting grass for his cow, according to the above site, citing Commissioner Robert Callwell. I'd imagine getting a cow on the island would have been an interesting proposition, almost as strange as finding grass long enough to cut. 

There is a grave up in the monastery for the children of lightkeeper William Callaghan from 1869 - slightly after Joshua Redmond's time - both of whom died on the island.

So, it was a hard old station on The Skelligs, though Joshua, seventeen years at least without leaving it, didn't seem to mind.

The Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society No.9 (1976) also details an account by one John Windele to the island in 1851, the same year as the Valuation above. Windele, as detailed by the article's author, Peter Harbison, seems to been somewhat scatterbrained at times in his account. It seems, from reading it, that the notes he made at the time were insufficient and he added to them from memory some time afterwards. Nevertheless, the jist of his account is true. I will give a few snippets in relation to the lighthouse here. (Incidentally, in the narrative, Windele calls the keeper of the Upper Light 'Rooney,' which obviously should be 'Redmond.' As far as I can tell, no Rooney ever served on Skellig)

After visiting the monastery, Windele and his companion, returned to the Upper Light, where they were to stay the night. "The light-

It seems as though by 1862, Joshua Redmond had been dragged, kicking and screaming, off his beloved Rock, for he made a complaint about being owed money in Kilrush Court. It is likely that he was the lightkeeper at Kilcredaune before being pensioned off. This would have been eight years before his Upper Skellig Micheal light was discontinued with the establishment of the lighthouse on Inistearaght.

Joshua was still living in Kilrush when he died in 1873:-

His son, James Robert (the names appear to be interchangeable) followed his father into the lightkeeping trade, serving at Rotten Island, Roancarrig, Youghal, Inisheer, Drogheda and Eagle Island, if not more. I often think that it would make a great documentary for someone with lightkeepers in their ancestry to follow their great-grandfathers around the coast of Ireland. None of the lights mentioned above are among the so-called Great Lighthouses of Ireland but most are far more interesting than many that appear on that list. It would be a travelogue of Irish family history woven into our national history at some of the most stunningly beautiful places on our coastline. Maybe I should copyright the idea before somebody else does.

Addendum: There was a story that Hugh Redmond had lost a son and a nephew on Skellig Rock. As Joshua tells the story of losing a son over a cliff, I assumed that Hugh and Joshua were one and the same. Jos-hugh-a, if you see what I mean. I am now informed that Hugh Redmond was the Principal Keeper on the North Maidens Lighthouse in the 1850s.

As it appears that Hugh, like Joshua, was a Dublin man, it now seems likely that Hugh and Joshua were brothers. Hugh would have served on the Skelligs, probably before Joshua arrived. Maybe Joshua replaced Hugh in 1838. We know that Joshua lost a son. If Hugh also lost a son during his time on the Rock, then that would explain the 'losing a son and a nephew' tale. In fact, both Hugh and Joshua would have lost a son and a nephew.