Pete's Irish Lighthouses

This jolly-looking individual is Andrew Seimsi McGonagle, a nineteenth century lightkeeper, and probably the only one of his profession who hailed from Owey Island. Owey Island (sadly, I can never get the Owey, owey, owey, we're tellin' Joey rhyme out of my head) lies just to the north of Aranmore Island, a wonderfully undulating island off the northwest coast of Cruit Island. An island devoted to farming and fishing (and, allegedly, poteen making), it supported a population of around 120 when Andrew was born there around 1856. At that time, of course, the nearby light on Arranmore Island was dark - it was only to be relit in 1865 - but the light from Tory Island would have shone out to the north. I have been unable to find out why, where and when Andrew started his lightkeeping career, as his period of service does not coincide with any of the Irish Lights 'census years' of 1871, 1899, 1901, 1911, 1912 and 1918. Photo from eOceanic Our first recording of him is in fact...

Mew Island lighthouse (marinas.com) Another story from an old copy of Beam , written by Paddy McMahon (390) who spent many years on Mew Island in the 1960s. Son of a Scattery Island pilot, h e ended up spending a lot of his working life in Northern Island lighthouses, particularly on Mew Island in the Copelands. He and Mary (O’Malley) had five children and retired on 31st January 1979 after forty years’ service. He had apparently refused to join the 2d per week insurance scheme to cover his burial if he died in service, figuring that they’d have to bury him some way or another, 2d per week or not. Sadly the name of the SAK was not recorded Marinas.com photo clearly showing the two old gasometers on Mew Island. They were used to store  coal gas produced on the island for running the light in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century (photo marinas.com) Possibly the same cormorant scouring the seas for eels at the Fastnet (photo capeclearlavender.com)

  The South Rock (Kilwarlin) lighthouse off the county Down coast. Photos of the light with lantern room intact are unfortunately rare I'm currently working on a book on selected 19th century lightkeepers. It's going quite slowly as other projects / work and family seem to be filling up a lot of my time. The archives at Irish Lights are still closed with little sign of anything coming online, as promised five years ago. Anyhow, this is the story of Walter Adamson, one of the early keepers on South Rock: - We do not know a lot about Walter Adamson, and what we do know is mired in a lot of conjecture. Like Michael Wishart, he was a Scotsman, hailing from the coastal town of Kircaldy in Fife. Family history researchers seem to have leant en masse to the not unreasonable deduction that he married one Mary Lawson in Ceres a few miles further north in 1792, mainly because there is a marriage register entry to that effect at the latter place. However, this ignores the fact that in 186...

  Duncannon Fort light from the wonderful beach below Following on from the previous post about the lighthouses at Duncannon, it is important not to forget that the people who manned the lights are every inch as important as the towers of brick and concrete themselves. Irish Lights did not keep regular lists of keepers at stations prior to 1919, so any further information / corrections are very welcome The Duncannon Fort light having been established in 1791 and probably even earlier, it naturally follows that it needed a keeper to take care of it. Unfortunately, none of the names of any of those early keepers, who came to light the light, have come to light. During a Trinity House inspection cruise in 1859, though, it was reported that the keeper at the Fort at the time succeeded his father in the job. This was probably George Brownell and his son, as Sarah Brownell, George’s daughter, married a soldier from the Fort in 1852. As the keeper at the Fort was not required during the h...

Duncannon Fort light with Duncannon North deceptively close (800m) behind (Facebook page) A couple of years ago, Andrew Doherty, author and guru of the wonderful Tides and Tales blog /maritime community project at Cheekpoint, asked me if I'd like to write a guest piece on the Duncannon lighthouses for the blog. Rather foolishly, I said yes. I am now shamelessly stealing the piece for this blog. Andrew's tireless researching of local history stands as a benchmark for all other communities around the coast. Reposing in the shadow of Hook Head (not literally, except during very peculiar astronomical events), the lights of Duncannon Fort might not enjoy the limelight of its illustrious neighbour but it has an interesting history nonetheless. The problem for shipping bound for Waterford in the 1700s was that, having breathed a huge sigh of relief on rounding Hook Head, they then got caught out by a nasty bar just south of Duncannon Fort. Not the sort that sells frothy pints and sta...

The leading light today on Vidal Bank (photo Pete Goulding) I knew I had posted on these two totally-unknown lighthouses back in the day but it still took me 30 minutes to find them in this blog, as I had called them the Haulbowline Front and Rear lights, little knowing that, 16 years later, I would be googling Green and Vidal and tearing the remains of my hair out. The rear light on Green Island (photo Pete Goulding) The lights are almost identical, situated 500 yards apart in the sandy shallows off Cranfield Beach on the northern side of Carlingford Lough. (For the best views, take Fair Road off the N2 and get out when you reach the coast). The one to the left (east, front) is Vidal Bank; the one to the right (west, rear) is Green Island. The only visible difference between the two is that Vidal Bank has its orange triangle pointing up, whereas Green Island's is down. Even the light characteristics -  a white light occulting every three seconds - are the same. Think I may have go...

Bobby Ball Sir Robert Ball was the scientific advisor to Irish Lights from his appointment in 1882 until the early years of the 20th century and was practically omnipresent during Irish Lights' annual inspection cruises during that time. From 1903, he took a photographic record of these tours, which are now viewable online on the National Library of Ireland website. Several albums of panoramic photos are also included, Sir Robert probably being one of the first exponents of the art. Personally, I think they're no great shakes - mainly distant islands with a tower on them - but for the time, they were probably highly regaled. He was an all-round scientist, a famed astronomer, and was probably very useful to Irish Lights through his expertise in everything scientific. His 1876 treatise, The Theory of Screws, I have yet to read but its on my bucket list. Towards the end of his life (he died in 1913 aged 73) he jotted down some reminiscences of his life, including his Irish Lights...

£3 per year for not having a garden at Balbriggan I recently came across this 53-page booklet which, it says in the introduction, completely nullifies the 1930 handbook. Obviously I'm not going to copy the 53 pages here but maybe I'll simply reproduce the section about pay and how rich those guardiands of our coastlines were 91 years ago. Incidentally, if anybody would like a pdf copy of the booklet, just drop an email to gouldingpeter@gmail.com and I'll send it out as soon as possible. Rubber knee boots and dungarees allowed at Straw Island £36 per year to provide an AK at Youghal £12 10s per year for each kid boarding away from home