Pete's Irish Lighthouses

My sincere thanks go to Lorenz Holenstein of the canton St. Gallen in Switzerland for taking the time and trouble to send me this photograph of the 1954 Irish lightship Gannet now proudly in itds new home in the Holzpark Klybeck on the shore of the Rhine in Basel. It is over a year since it arrived in Switzerland and I posted at the time my slight worry that the mast and lantern were sitting beside the ship, rather than on it in the latest picture I had. Now, thanks to Lorenz, it appears that all is well. She's actually looking a lot better than she has done for many a year. I have cousins in St. Gallen and many happy memories of childhood holidays there.

The four lightkeepers' cottages at Clifden c.1928 ( Copyright estate of Eileen Kates, used by permission.) Away in the wescht of county Galway, the twin lighthouses of Slyne Head sit on a tiny island called Illanaumid. One is black and in use; the other unpainted and abandoned. It is difficult to get close to them, though long-distance views are possible from the vicinity. (I was surprised to see them pop up on the horizon while walking on Omey Island recently) Until the end of the nineteenth century, lightkeepers' families lived on the island but by 1896, change was afoot. As the CIL website puts it -  During November 1898 the Inspector, Captain Galwey and Engineer, Mr Douglass had been instructed to find a suitable site for shore dwellings at Clifden and by March 1902 the Engineer, Mr C.W. Scott, reported that, of the two sites visited, the one nearest the quay on the Bodkin estate was particularly suitable and could be purchased for £225. Documentation was completed by 1904,...

  Passage Point Perch possibly in the 1930s when it was in good health. Shamelessly filched from the Tides and Tales Facebook page as it is the only picture I could find of the light in its heyday. I recently purchased Andrew Doherty's latest book of local history and reminiscences "Waterford Harbour Tides and Tales." It is a book I could easily have read at one sitting but I have been determined to make it last, so I have been limiting myself to one chapter per night. It really is a wonderful book and makes me want to write about the local tales of my own homeland but sadly, we moved around so much as children that home is wherever I lay my hat. Anyway, finishing the chapter ' Long-legged Spider Light" about the Passage Point Pile Light, I learned that the lighthouse was very likely automated in 1914. (I say, ' very likely ' because, following Andrew's sources, I was able to find a newspaper report stating that a new brilliant Aga light was to be or...

At the risk of sounding like Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a falsehood repeated often enough will eventually become the truth. Take Robert Reading and his six lighthouses that he applied for a patent for in 1665, the first state-sponsored lighthouses on our shores. All lighthouse books and articles tell us about Hook Head, the Old Head of Kinsale and Charles Fort. They tell us that there was a very short-lived lighthouse at Islandmagee and there were supposed to be two at Howth - one on the land and one to show ships over the bar. However, they tell us, the one over the bar was never built. Of course, with no physical evidence for this lighthouse, this 'fact' was repeated again and again. And the longer it was repeated, the more sources agreed on it and the statement was accepted as the truth. Lest I appear sanctimonious about this, I must point out that I have repeated this myself on my blog on several occasions. Even worse - and this is a real case...

  The word 'cataloguing' looks wrong when spelled the proper way, but also looks wrong spelled the US way - 'cataloging.' Oh well, first world problem. I was recently on to Irish Lights with a query about the lighthouse in Newcastle county Down . In former years, they would put me onto Frank Pelly who was snowed under by the archives in the Baily Lighthouse but always did his best to help as best he could. He used to describe his job as either preserving what archives or trying to catalogue - there was not the time to do both! And so, wisely, he concentrated on the preservation, so as to have records for future generations to catalogue. Frank has now retired and, ironically, there is now a big project underway to preserve and catalogue the archives. This is the reply I received from the Project Manager -  The project to catalogue the archive only began last year, 2019. The archive contains over one thousand volumes and two thousand boxes. The archive project is priorit...

The definition of a lighthouse varies from person to person, from lighthouse authority to lighthouse authority. Is a white box with a light on top a lighthouse? A skeletal tower with a light? Most people, I feel, appreciate the classical tower lighthouse and regard anything else as 'not a proper lighthouse.' I agree with Russ Rowlett in his Lighthouse Directory that a lighthouse ought to be substantial. He suggests minimum dimensions and I can't really argue. I would add though, that I believe one should be able to enter a lighthouse, as per the 'house' part of the word. Thus, as can be seen in the wonderful photograph above, the Bangor Pier Head light should be considered a true lighthouse. I believe the guy inside is Peter Scott, who is, or at least was, Duty Berthing Master at Bangor Marina and also the man responsible for servicing the light. I use this post as an excuse to show some more photographs of one of Ireland's two truly red lighthouses!  

Depending on what part of the country you live in, this post will delight you or annoy you, so I will stress beforehand that the following list is entirely my own subjective opinion. It is neither incorrect nor correct. You will doubtless disagree on many of my choices and your view is every bit as valid as mine.  The premise of this list is CIL's 12 Great Lighthouses of Ireland, which, as I have mentioned before, should really be 12 Lighthouses of Ireland that have Tourist Potential. They are not the twelve greatest lighthouses of Ireland, as anyone outside CIL will agree. One of them isn't even a lighthouse. Others - Cromwell Point and Blackhead come to mind - are very picturesquely situated but most of our lighthouses, by their very nature, are anyway. And of course, lighthouses in Ireland are not limited to those under the auspices of the Commissioner of Irish Lights. So, in no order of merit, but starting at Fair Head and circumnavigating the country clockwise, this is my ...

Kingstown Harbour 1830s - the dark blob at the end of the east pier is presumably the temporary lighthouse. Poolbeg can be seen to the left of the top of the mast of the left-most sailing ship. An exaggerated Bailey lighthouse is silhouetted against the sky to the right of the picture. Temporary lighthouses are not an unknown phenomenon on Irish coasts. Rue Point on Rathlin Island had one for a couple of years before the first light was established. Ardglass had a ‘temporary’ light for nearly fifty years, housed in a private residence. Calf Rock’s temporary light was in operation for ten years on the end of Dursey Island. And so on. Unlike the lights mentioned, the temporary light at Kingstown, as it was then known, was not a stationery light. When the East pier was being constructed – from the shore outward – the light was installed at the end of the constructed pier. As building progressed, the light kept moving, so it was always on the end of the pier, which made sense as there was ...