Good news from the East Coast of Ireland Part 1

 

Wicklow Pierhead lighthouse pre-Independence, with hat and feathers.

Some really good news this week from the east coast of Ireland regarding two of our lights.

First off, there's the Wicklow pierhead light which I wrote about here

Basically a storm in January 1976 lifted off the beautiful old copper dome and weather vane from the lantern room and deposited them in the harbour. It was deemed uneconomical to repair them and so a makeshift cap was made by a very decent local tradesman to allow the light to continue. Plenty of photographs on the Wicklow Maritime Facebook page!

Then, around a year ago, there were rumblings that the Port Authority were looking at returning the dome to its rightful position. Yeah, right!

But then, this weekend just gone, it all came to pass! The dome was repaired by Arklow Marine Services  and was reunited in Arklow with the lantern room. On Sunday, it was returned to the pier and was hoisted into place early on Monday morning. Looks great! Fair play to all involved.