Pete's Irish Lighthouses

My granddaughter, Summer, and niece, Rachel, obviously enjoying one of the fourteen tidal beacons between Coney Island and the county Sligo mainland Before you ask, no, I made up the term tidal beacon . I'm not even sure that its accurate and if anyone has any better suggestions, please let me know. According to Mrs Wikipedia, there are three tidal islands in Ireland, which she lists as Omey Island in Galway, Coney Island in Sligo and Inishkeel in Donegal. I have visited all three and can confirm they can all only be walked to when the tide is low. Coney is my favourite because it has a pub. Off the top of my head, I can think of three more - Shenick Island off the coast of Skerries in county Dublin; Feenish or Finnis Island near Carna; and, a bit doubtfully, Mutton Island in county Clare, to where, I am told, it is possible to walk roughly once every twenty years at super-low tide, with the water up to your shoulders. I am sure there must be more but the top of my head is very cro...

  For some reason, both my wife and I have a dislike of travelling through Galway to get to the other side. We both prefer to spend an extra 30 minutes driving up north to Headford and then skirting the northern shore of Lough Corrib, which was good for me on our week-long holiday to the wescht as Ireland's only inland lighthouse, Ballycurrin, was more or less en route. I was quite shocked to learn that it was thirteen years since I was last here . On that occasion, due to the wetness, I reneged on crossing the slippy rocks that guard the lighthouse but this time we were blessed by warm sunshine.  Unslippy rocks There were a few other people around - a family going kayaking on the still waters, two lads fishing under the tower and a group of friends picknicking opposite. I never noticed the dry stone-walling at the bottom of the tower. Seems a bit dodge asking it to support a stone tower but its still standing after 250 years, so what do I know? That said, there were calls las...

  OS map of Clew Bay. Clare Island is middle left; Achillbeg is top left; Old Head is bottom middle; Westport bottom right; Inishgort just to the right of the Y in Clew Bay; Newport just off map top right. Kudos for this article very much goes to the wonderful Dr. Michael M. O'Connor who is the supreme authority on all things historical in Mayo, who first posted this wonderful little tale, which was later reproduced in the Mayo Advertiser on July 27th 2023. It may be difficult to contemplate but in 1797 the lighthouse at Loop Head was the only official light on the west coast of Ireland. I suspect there were many unofficial lights - from braziers atop towers to simple coal-burning fires on headlands but our knowledge of them is limited to an odd throwaway sentence here and there. The appalling toll on shipping (and, to a lesser extent, human life) on the dark coasts of Ireland led to calls from shipowners and merchants to light up the coast, particularly in places where sea-going ...

Inishnee ( Inis  Ní ) lies across the water from Roundstone in Connemara. A bridge joins it to the mainland at its northernmost point and it had a population of 43 in 2011, most of them in the two northerly sections of the island. In fact, if water levels rise, it will turn into three separate islands, as only two very narrow strips of land are currently holding it together. The road on the island begins at the bridge and finishes about a third of the way down the southern section. It is a lovely place for a looped walk but at 7am in the morning, I was more concerned about reaching the lighthouse at the southern end of the island. I suspect that the same people who would deny Inishnee's insularity because it is connected by a bridge would also deny that it has a lighthouse because it is a concrete hut. But, as I have said many times in the past, you don't disown your children just because they are ugly. I have no idea if my early morning route to the lighthouse is the easiest ...