Pete's Irish Lighthouses

Tuskar Rock lighthouses is one of the great Irish lighthouses. The oldest Rock lighthouse on our coasts that is still in active service (South Rock off the coast of county Down is older but is long derelict) Tuskar has guarded the treacherous shoals and submerged rocks off the south east coast of Ireland since 1815. The area itself is where the Atlantic Ocean sweeps up the Irish Sea and can be subject to ferocious seas, such as the one that swept away the workmen's huts when the light was under construction, killing ten of them instantly. The remaining fourteen clung grimly to the rocks for 48 hours until rescued.  But how to photograph it? Well there are distant views from the coast - probably St Helens or Carne are your best bets, though you'll need good magnification. I looked around for boat tours - as they do for the Fastmet or Rockabill, but the only company who do them appear to be Harbour Thrills , a Wexford based company. They mention the Tuskar in their intr...

The shallows and barely submerged rocks are quite treacherous off Rosslare. Coming out of Rosslare, two parallel rows of red and green buoys mark the route past the Tuskar Light that the large ferries need to follow, whether heading east across to Wales or south to France. The one marker I was hoping to find was Splaugh ATON (Aid to Navigation) which is a new addition to the CIL charts. I quote - The Splaugh Buoy (@IrishLightsBuoy) is a Type 2 Port Laternal Marker (the second buoy type in the Commissioners of Irish Lights inventory) which has been deployed off the coast near Rosslare. The buoy is fitted with a variety of meteorological and oceanographic sensors which will be tweeting data automatically via the automatic identification system (AIS) , giving a unique insight into weather conditions in the area  Now, I'm not sure what Mr. Splaugh looks like. Judging by the icon on the CIL chart , it could be the laddo above, or maybe the buoyo in the bottom picture. Bo...

  The last time I was here in 2008 , I had to content myself with a couple of long range shots of this very pretty lighthouse from the hill leading down to the port due to time constraints. This time around, I discovered that the pier is unwalkable - well, it's possible to walk it but Stena Line has it blocked off. I hate it when ferry companies do that - it's the same with the North Pier in Fishguard and the North Bank lighthouse in Dublin. Apparently the first light on the pier here was established in 1886 but I have been able to find no mention of it. More to the point, nor has Leo Coy, who is very much the Rosslare Harbour expert. Maybe it was just a lantern on a pole? This lighthouse was constructed when the new pier was built around 1906 ish to facilitate the larger ferries crossing to the South Wales coast and later to France. Unfortunately, the only way to get close up shots of this lighthouse is to take one of the ferries. I chose the Rosslore to Fish...

 High above Rosslare, there is a small memorial park dedicated to the men who lost their lives on the Tuskar, the gallant lifeboat service and the people who lost their lives in the Aer Lingus crash in the late fifties. Of the lighthouse tragedies - ten men got swept to their deaths by a freak wave while the lighthouse was under construction, one fell to his death from the top of the tower shortly after, and one of the lighthouse keepers was killed when a floating mine struck the rock in the second world war. Just off the memorial park, incidentally, is a small row of cottages, called Goulding Street. About time too.

So, to continue the story of the lightkeepers' cottages from the previous post , the lightkeepers' families continued to live on the rock from 1834. Due to the cramped nature of the accommodation available, the Ballast Board endeavoured to only post unmarried or childless keepers to Tuskar. The dwellings were expanded in 1856, 1857 and 1875 and eventually shore accommodation was built overlooking Rosslare harbour in 1886. The houses aren't difficult to locate - they are the first block of houses along the cliff walk that leads from the main road to a point overlooking the pier. As per the bottom picture, they are highly visible from the port itself, though necessitating a steep walk uphill. The houses were eventually sold to the Railway Hotels company in 1973. The Great Southern Hotel next door is currently for sale for €350,000 and presumably these houses are part of a job lot. The doors and ground floor windows are boarded up and the gardens unkempt but oh, w...

The only lighthouse I haven't photographed on the east coast of Ireland is Tuskar Rock, off the south east corner (though several will have to be re-visited) So yesterday, I betook myself down to Rosslare to rectify this situation.  Tuskar Rock lighthouse, which marks an area of Irish coastline that has probably claimed more ships than any other, was built in 1815. Its construction was unusual in Irish lighthouse history, as there was a certain amount of tragedy involved - ten workmen got swept to their deaths in a storm and an eleventh fell from the tower and was killed. To compound the tragedy, the Ballast Board's compensation to the widows and dependants was derisory to say the least.  Anyway, the lighthouse was built in 1815 and keepers' cottages - four in a row, were built on the seafront overlooking St. Helen's Pier (see below) from where they actually had a view of the light (bottom picture - click on it to enlarge!) The cottages were for the familie...

 This statue of a sailor stands in the garden of a house in Dalkey looking out to sea. The house is called Nerrano House and was recently for sale at over €3million. And the lighthouse connection? The figure of the Metal Man was designed by Thomas Kirk in 1816 to be erected in Sligo Bay as a lighthouse. Apparently there were four figures cast from the mould. One went to Sligo and can still be seen there. A second was placed on top of a large pillar at Brownstone Head down in Tramore. He has become a symbol of the town. And the other two? Nobody knows but the most recurring legend is that one went to Dalkey and the other went to Sydney Australia. There is no sign of the one in Sydney anywhere and its probably lying at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. The legend of the Dalkey Metal Man may have come from this figure which stands in the grounds of a house once owned by the McAnaspie family. Unfortunately, this figure is nothing like the figures in Sligo and T...

 I had read on the web that there was a new ferry from Colimore Harbour to Dalkey Island. From there, you would get a good close up view of the Muglins.  There was no sign of a ferry at Colimore Harbour so I had to make do with these (not too bad) shots from the mainland. The ferry is only newly licensed. I had read there was a notice on a door in the harbour giving the number to ring if you wanted the ferry but I couldn't find any such number.  I quite like this lighthouse. The locals regard it as more of a beacon than a lighthouse but it is officially a lighthouse. It started life as a white beacon in 1880 and then acquired its red stripe in 1883. In 1979, it was officially welcomed into the lighthouse fraternity. You can hire a boat apparently in nearby Bulloch Harbour but you need a second person with you (they don't allow single people to hire boats) It costs €40 per hour and a quick demonstration of how a boat works is given.

 In September 2012, I took the ferry to Holyhead to get a close up view of this light. Unfortunately it wasn't entirely successful. These shots were taken from Colimore Harbour in Dalkey and to be honest are much the same (judge for yourself here ) This lighthouse incidentally was constructed in Dun Laoghaire Harbour before being towed out to its location and sunk.

 East Marina Breakwater Light West Marina Breakwater Light Outside the West Pier West Marina Breakwater Light  Near the West Marina Breakwater Light  Near the West Marina Breakwater Light   East Marina Breakwater Light Traders Wharf Traders Wharf Commissioner of Irish Lights Building. This must be new. I'm pretty sure it wasn't here the last time I was here.