Pete's Irish Lighthouses

View over Ballinskelligs Bay from Hog's Head It is over two years ago now that I wrote about the lighthouse at Caherdaniel in county Kerry and discussed the possibility of its existence. The basis for my wondering was an article written by one-time Irish Lights chief engineer, John Swan Sloane in the Irish Builder that described the great Irish lighthouses of ancient history. In it, Sloane says " the great lighthouse at Cahirdaniel was perhaps in its day the most famous. James deCourcy O'Connell, in 1548, got a grant in Parliament for its maintenance, with certain allowances and emoluments from the many passing ships going coastwise to Galway, bearing the rich wines and merchandise of Spain to the City of the Tribes, It was also particularly and well looked after by the monks of Ballinskelligs, at the time frequent visitors for penance and otherwise to the larger Skellig Rock ... This ancient lighthouse tower is quite unknown to the authorities of the present day ... lik...

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)