Ballycurrin revisted

 

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 last year for Mayo and Galway county councils to stump up a bit of money for repairs. The railing near the top is somewhat loose, though the rest of it looks solid enough. I wonder if this lighthouse counts as one that I've been in the lantern room of?

There are two many theories as to why Sir Henry Lynch decided to build a 22-foot lighthouse here. The first is that he needed a marker so the provisions dealer would be able to find his way to Ballycurrin House, where he lived. Apparently the older people in the locality maintain it was built by his wife so Sir Henry would be able to find his way home after a night on the lash in Cong or Galway.

The above picture, which I didn't see, is from the Buildings of Ireland website, which prefers to place a much later (1847) date on the tower. I quote: -

A lakeshore "lighthouse" erected by Charles Lynch DL (d. 1897) representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of south County Mayo. NOTE: Although traditionally cited as a late eighteenth-century "improvement" of the Ballycurrin House estate, quoting a date stone ("1772") on the adjacent boathouse, the "lighthouse" does not appear on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey (surveyed 1838; published 1840) and an accompanying date stone ("1847") indicates a period of construction coinciding with the height of the Great Famine (1845-9).

The stone steps are not conjoined and spiral one half turn around the tower to the doorway at the top. If the council does decide to renovate, you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be warning signs all over the place. Although the steps look dangerous, there actually not, on a dry day anyway, as you can't really put your leg through the gaps. They might be slippy when wet and if you tripped forward going up them you could probably give your shin a nasty bang if you tried.

The feature of the lighthouse, whether it was built in 1772, or as a famine project in 1847, is the big millstone that constitutes the roof. I'm pretty sure there's not another one like it in Ireland. No idea what the point of it was. Would it not let the rain in to dowse the fire?