Pete's Irish Lighthouses

South Arklow lightvessel c.1906. The Relief was sold in 1867 (This article originally appeared in Lamp 142, Autumn 2024) Despite having boasted the world’s second ever lightship in 1736, it was not until the mid-1820s that Ireland invested in her first purpose-built lightvessel when, like the buses, three came along at once. All were wooden ships, built by W. Roberts of Milford Haven and they were named the Seagull (1824), the Star (1825) and the Relief (1826). They were destined for the existing station on the Kish Bank and the two new stations on Arklow Bank and the Coningbeg Rock. The northern and western coasts of Ireland are rocky, while the eastern and southern shores are sandy, hence the need for floating lights (later light vessels) in these latter two quadrants. Many a ship had foundered on the treacherous sandbanks between Belfast and Cork. The ship, which had been positioned on the southern end of the Arklow Bank, now drifted a mile inside the very danger she was supposed ...

Huge thanks to Joanna Doyle for sending me these photos of the best seller Telephone Directory which she found at her parents' house. Joanna, as she has mentioned once or twice, is descended from a long line of Loughrey and Ryan keepers. Tantalisingly, Joanna only sent me a few pages to whet my appetite and it certainly is rip-roaring material, though slightly too racy for my taste. Joanna estimates the book, which is now, incredibly, out of print, dates from the early 1980s. I believe it was nominated for the Booker Prize one year but lost out for reasons of length.

  Irish Lights inspection time, Clare Island c.1905 (NLI) John Gillespie was born around 1859 in that hotbed of lighthouse keepers, the north Foyle estuary. His father, Neil, had been a river pilot there and the Gillespie name would become synonymous with that body of water, with many Gillespies working as pilots, fishermen, sea captains etc. Neil had married one Ellen Loughrey - another Shrove maritime name - prior to 1857. I haven't been able to find out very much about his career as a lightkeeper. Given his age, he would probably have joined the service in the early 1880s. Certainly he was an AK at Haulbowline in 1885 and shortly thereafter rocked up to Clare Island on the boat from Roonagh to take up the position of AK there. I am surmising that it was "shortly thereafter" because John married Mary Jane Hurley on 20th April 1887 in Westport. The daughter of a farmer from Inchireagh, Dunmanway, Mary Jane was employed as a school teacher on Clare Island. A baby girl, Ma...

  From James Morrissey's wonderful 'A History of the Fastnet Lighthouse' I came across this interesting snippet in the Irish Examiner of 19th October 1883, two years after its sister lighthouse on Calf Rock was swept from its perch off Dursey Island. The 1880s seems to have been a time for gales, with damage being done to the Fastnet and maroonings, at least one of which caused severe hardship for the keepers. Isaac Notter was the head honcho down in Crookhaven, owning much of the land and, for many years, held the contract for relieving the Fastnet. He also owned several pilot cutters and had his fingewr in many pies. In 1885, he commandeered 60 police officers in an abortive attempt to seize cattle from his tenants in default of rent. As a result of this, most of his employees downed tools in protest, including the crew of the lighthouse tender. Picture courtesy Joanna Doyle The two keepers who were accidentally relieved were PK James Walsh and AK Hamilton Kennedy.  Jame...

From the Robinson family album, early 1900s (NLI)   The Mystery of the Missing Perch a play in one act by The Drogheda Independent first performed on 5th December 1896 at Drogheda Harbour Office Scene: the Harbour Office at Drogheda, 1st December 1896 Cast of Characters, in order of appearance: The Engineer - dressed in filthy blue overalls, face coated in oil, wields a spanner The Secretary - lips blue from chewing a biro, frequently goes and makes cups of tea for those in attendance Reynolds - a foreshore worker, wears a cloth cap and hobnailed boots Messrs McEvoy and Nulty - board members, wear bowler hats and frock coats Mr Weldon, the Chair - four legs, made of pinewood Curtain opens The Harbour Board is in session The Engineer is explaining that the South Bar perch, 300m out to sea from the Aleria beacon, has disappeared and he can't find any other explanation, except that it had been knocked down by a passing vessel. He suspects a certain screw boat has hit it (it seems to s...

I am delighted that this blogpost is not from myself, not simply because I'm very lazy, but because it is by someone who is sickeningly young. Ciaran Newcombe is  a student in Transition Year in Christian Brothers College in Cork City. He is 16 and he undertook this research into Ballycotton lighthouse for the Cork Heritage Project led by Kieran McCarthy, former Lord Mayor of Cork. Ciaran is at pains to point out that the drone footage is not his, but the research, narration and editing is all his own work. As well as the video, he also produced a 28 page pdf on Ballycotton lighthouse, which is full of interesting facts on its history, fogbell, wrecks etc. I'm not sure why I'm mentioning this because I haven't managed to figure out a way of displaying a pdf on this page.