Pete's Irish Lighthouses

  Eeragh from Inishmore c2019? The following article appeared in the Irish Times of Saturday August 25th 1973 and was written by Elgy Gillespie, who was, and still is, a freelance journalist. My favourite part is, when questioned about her impromptu visit, she answered that they had written for permission 'and it hadn't been denied us,' which the keepers seemed to accept! Its a very good piece and I've copied it in full. Eeragh c.1903. Note the lush vegetation

  Drogheda North light. Photo Richard Cummins From the Drogheda Independent, Saturday 31st January 1914 The death of Mr Thomas Sween(e)y, James St, took place with tragic suddenness on Wednesday evening. Deceased, who had attained to a ripe age – over 70 years – was out that evening, walking along the Mornington Road with his son, Joseph, a man about 40 years old. This son was to leave Drogheda the following day, being home only for the sad purpose of burying his mother. Father and son went for a walk as far as Mornington lighthouse and, on the return journey, when nearing Mr Doherty's house, the old man complained of weakness, and in a moment or so became semi-conscious. Clerical and medical aid were immediately summoned, and Rev Fr Glynn CC, St Mary's, who arrived with great promptitude, was in time to administer the last Sacraments to the dying man. Dr PJ Murray arrived shortly afterwards and pronounced life extict. Deceased was formerly lighthouse keeper at Mornington; he ...

A totally gratuitous photo of Inishgort lighthouse in Clew Bay. Photo the Western People ' The public will sympathise with the hard fate of assistant keepers in lighthouses. Many of them live on desolate rocks, far out at sea, unvisited for weeks or months, and separated from wife and children. They must be wakeful all night, and keep the lights ever burning which guide or warn the mariner. Lonely lives they lead, with the wild waves ever beating and the storms raging around them. 'They are renumerated by two shillings and five pence a day, and out of this, they must support their wives and families. They did appeal to the Irish Light Commissioners for an increase of salary, and the commissioners munificently promised £1 10s annually to those who had passed five years service, and who had been recommended by the inspector. Thirty shillings annually is very nearly one penny a day, so that the lighthouse-keeper, after five years service ands a recommendation, may receive 2s 6d da...

  Those of you that remember Christmas cards may recall the rich colouring that were their hallmark, the vibrant reds and greens standing proudly against a pure white blanket of snow to symbolise joy and happiness throughout the world. And that was exactly the sentiment that sprang to mind when I was sent this exhilarating Christmas card from Jane Sims, whose grandfather, Finny O’Sullivan, was a superintendent in the Irish Lights depot in Dun Laoghaire. Printed on a sheet of cream paper, folded in four, the cover features a fingernail-sized, colourless imprint of the Irish Lights’ logo, guaranteed to bring excitement into any child’s heart as she hurriedly tears it from the envelope. It is the inside, though, that marks what Christmas is all about. A beautiful and heartfelt message conveying Christmas Greetings and ‘Good Wishes’ for the receiver’s happiness in the New Year. One can imagine the old keeper sitting in his sparse kitchen on some isolated rock, wiping a tear away fr...

  I think its around ten years since I remortgaged the family home to buy a ticket for the ferry from Portmagee to Skellig Michael. Unfortunately, due to a recent rockfall, the road built by Ballast Board workmen in the early 1820s was out of bounds and so I only managed to see the lower light from up above on the Saddle. And I didn't get to see the upper light at all. Now, I'd seen the photographs of the dwellings on Bull Rock and also Tearaght but I was somewhat taken aback to see the state of the dwellings at the lower light on Skellig Michael. I was sent these photos by Chris Mills, a former lightkeeper in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and British Columbia who was visiting the area this year and managed to get on to the island.  It seems to me that the island light stations are the ones taking the brunt of the lack of TLC. Ballycotton is also bad, by all accounts. Light maintained, dwellings not. Scattery Island is getting done up by private individuals. God knows what Slyne ...

Broadhaven c.1905 (courtesy NLI) John Swan Sloane is the lighthouse legend who keeps on giving. He was the Superintendent of Works for the Ballast Board and Irish Lights before being eased out, an action which spurred him onto greater and greater vituperation against his former employers in publications such as The Irish Builder . I recently came across this piece from him in that publication on 1st September 1880. "Perhaps there are few places not on rocks more desolate than Gubcashel Point, at the western side of the entrance to Broadhaven, in the County Mayo. 'Here, at the instance of the coastguard authorities, who first applied for it in 1843, was determined in 1853 to build a lighthouse to guide from seaward to the entrance to the channel and up the haven, and clear of a sunken rock on western side. The tower and dwellings were built by the corporation’s workmen, from the designs of Mr. Halpin. Whe this station was first visited by the author in 1861, he was struck with ...