Inishtrahull at last!

Due to a very fortuitous and unexpected set of circumstances, I was able to drive up to Inishowen from Dublin last Sunday on empty roads and finally get a boat to the island of Inishtrahull. It had been one of the lighthouses that had eluded me for many years and the fantastic weather only made it all the more memorable. As well, of course, the opportunity of a rare meeting up with ALK Ireland rep Rosie Drysdale and Billy.

Solar panels now light the new lighthouse

Inishtrahull lies six, seven or eight miles north of Malin Head (depending on your source) making it the most northerly part of Ireland, not counting the Torr Rocks that bear their jagged rocks about a half a mile to the north. There are currently three boats that do trips out there in the summer months - Inishowen Boating, True North Boating and Amazing Grace Yacht Charters. Inishowen Boating is the original boat; True North is new and a rib; and Amazing Grace is a yacht. The first two do the boat trip to the island (30 to 40 minutes each way) and 2 to 2.5 hours free roaming on the island for €50. Atlantic Yachts is more expensive but do full-day trips to the island with lunch. All leave from Bunagee Pier near Culdaff and none have regular sailing times; its very much weather dependent and also tide dependent (or so I was told). I went with True North.

The Torr Rocks, Ireland's northernmost land (excluding Rockall - winky emoji)

The only real landing place is at Portmore which is on the far, northern side of the island. The island is roughly one kilometer long relatively low, except for two large hills at either end, each of which sports a lighthouse. In between is short-grassed pastureland - though agriculture was not a big thing with the islanders - containing the ruins of the houses still standing after the final evacuation in the late 1920s. 

There are many little bays and crags and pools around the whole island, each of which has a name. Sean Beattie wrote a great handy-sized book called the Book of Inishtrahull, which I would heartily recommend bringing along if you visit. It names the occupants of all the houses and gives some great history and anecdotes of life on the island. 

I decided to visit the old lighthouse first, which was typical, as Rosie and Billy, on the other boat, who arrived slightly before ours, went to the new lighthouse first. Incidentally it takes about a twenty minute leisurely stroll to go from one lighthouse to the other. The new lighthouse was actually built in 1958 and so is now 66 years old. Naturally its all locked up. Peering through the grimy windows, I was disappointed not to spot an old tin of paint. I had thought this article was regulation window display at all lighthouses.

At the start of the 1900s, a fog signal station was introduced to the western end of the island, making two separate stations. There was also a Lloyds Signal Station introduced there to communicate with ships arriving from and going to America. I wonder if the islanders, down in the valley, thought their every move was being watched?

The harbour at Portmore

The harbour at Portmore with the old lighthouse on top of the hill behind. The terrain slopes down from the lighthouse to the end of the island. On the first little hump encountered is the little graveyard. The second smaller hump belongs to the seabirds.

The old lighthouse was established in 1813 (probably the first established by the Ballast Board and their inspector, George Halpin?) and was a stone tower 40 feet tall on the eastern end of the island. This is how it looked in its heyday (the cow is long gone and the keeper too)

And the same view today - 

There was a large perimeter space enclosed by a wall that marked the limits of the lighthouse territory. It was remarked by the Ordnance Survey guys in 1824 that the keepers' garden was lush with vegetables while there was very little gardening done in the rest of the island. One wonders at the relationship between keepers and islanders particularly in times of hardship and continuous storms when fishing was curtailed and boats could not reach the island. Food grew scarce, people went hungry, yet up on the hill, the lightkeepers had plenty. 

When the new lighthouse was built in 1958 it was found that the old tower partially blocked its beam, so it was unceremoniously pulled down. Rusty plates, the mercury bath and stair rods still lie all around. Even so, the beam of the new light is still interrupted by the hill on which the lighthouse stands. I'm surprised they didn't pull down the hill.

As I said, further on from the old lighthouse is the small graveyard which, I believe, was belonging to Irish Lights personnel and their families. I believe - though I'm willing to be corrected on this - that the islanders rowed the bodies of their dead over to the mainland for burial there. The lighthouse graveyard has naturally been untended for many years. There is a large celtic cross, one legible grave and then a number of rocks and other stones marking the graves of long-forgotten infants and children and possibly wives and husbands too.

The only legible headstone is that of Annie E. Young who died in March 1863 aged about two years. She was the daughter of  keeper John Young and Mary Page (more about her here)

Dastardly deeds at Kilcredaun

 

14th January 1923

Principal Keeper

Kilcredaun Lighthouse

To: The Secretary,

Irish Lights Office,

Dublin

Dear Sir,

I most respectfully beg leave to report that the station was visited at 9 o'clock last night by a party of masked and armed men who took down and carried off the telephone.

They said they were sorry for giving trouble but were ordered to do this work and had to carry out their orders.

I am, sir, 

Your obedient servant,

William Glanville

William Glanville (Service no. 63) fathered at least 15 children

Seriously, though, armed and masked men today could learn a thing or two from their forebears in 1923. Just because you force yourself into somebody's house doesn't mean you can't be courteous and apologetic about it. Who wouldn't love to be robbed by such utter gentlemen? 

William was 58 and two years from retirement when the IRA came visiting during the great phone shortage of 1923. He would have been the sole keeper at the station with his wife serving as 'Female Assistant.' He had been at Kilcredaun on the Shannon estuary since 1912.

Speaking of ages, the lighthouse, picturesquely situated on the north shore of the Shannon estuary, would have been 99 years old in 1923. To save you doing the sums, this means that it will be 200 years old on 1st September 2024. Doubtless it will look back on the terrifying telephone raid of 1923 with certain nostalgia. 

Having little knowledge of telephone technology in the early 1920s, one wonders at the mechanics of stealing a phone. You would probably have to connect it up to somewhere that was connected to the phone system but presumably didn't have a phone already. And would it keep the number? 

Dunree Head, county Donegal

Up until 1876, Fanad Head had marked the entrance to Lough Swilly but there were no lights in the lough itself, unlike in neighbouring Lough Foyle, which had so many lights that mariners all wore sunglasses on their way to and from Derry. In 1871, there were many representations to Irish Lights to light the lough and in 1872, representatives of the Elder Brethren of Trinity House came over in their zimmer frames to assess the merits. They decided that Dunree and Buncrana pier should be lit and the Board of Trade concurred.

c.1905

It was decided that the Fort was not the proper place for the lighthouse and the edifice should be erected slightly to the north of, and uphill from, it. As it would be at quite a high elevation, a one-storey building was all that would be required, with the light built into the bay-window type structure facing the lough. It was built by a Mr. McClelland from Derry under the supervision of Mr. R. Shakespeare, who arrived in the little hamlet determined to safeguard ships from the tempests that assailed them. At a cost of £2,354, it really is one of a kind, with no other light like it, in Ireland, anyway.

The first keeper, John Kennedy, arrived to take charge at the end of 1875 and the light, together with the one at the end of Buncrana pier, shone forth on the 15th January 1876. It was a fixed white light, with a 3rd order catodioptric lens, visible for eighteen miles in decent weather. It was a one-family station with the wife or sister of the keeper acting as assistant.

Patrick John Carolin was the keeper from 1912 and through the First World War, After a lifetime serving on Tearaght, Slyne Head, Galley Head and Loop Head, Dunree was a nice pre-retirement reward for his service. Irish Lights instructed him at the beginning of the war to carry out any orders issued by the Fort. According to the War and Raid collection in UCD, the army was keen to let everyone know that the port was closed. What port? They didn't say but I'm assuming Buncrana. The signal for this was three red balls during the day or three red lights at night, hung from the flagstaff. The military requested the use of the lighthouse flagstaff for this as they didn't want to draw the enemy's attention to the fort! I'm sure PJ was delira with this. Let's draw the enemy's attention to the lighthouse instead. There were six signalmen camped outside the lighthouse wall trying to keep the lanterns lit in a storm and eventually they converted the lights to electricity.

In 1927, the light was changed to acetylene, with seven burners replacing the oil wick. It also meant that the keeper was made redundant but J. Murphy was pensioned off and became the attendant. In 1969, the light was converted to electricity.

Some of the keepers who served at Dunree (Irish Lights often called it Dunrea) were:

John Kennedy, the first keeper, arrived from Eagle Island Mayo, with his wife Julia nee Gallagher as Female Assistant. 

John Stapleton and his wife Mary were there from at least 1881 to 1885. John used to take part in the bird surveys.

Jervis Brownell was there from 1886 to at least 1899. He also took part in the bird surveys and had children married and died there.

Hugh Keeny and his wife Susannah were there on the 1901 Census

George Gillespie and his wife Bridget were there on the 1911 Census

Patrick Carolin and Mary nee McCurdy were there from 1912 to 1919, though Patrick was a widower by 1918

J. Murphy was the last keeper in 1927 and the first attendant.

There was also a John Watson, possibly in the 1920s

Other attendants were

Hugh Brennan (1929 - 1951), Mr Curry (1951-55), P. Redmond (1955 -  ), Pat Redmond (2006 - )

 

The new light at Dunree

The Wexford Navy demobbed

I recently came across the following article - headlined The Wexford Navy Demobbed - in the New Ross Standard of 9th April 1982. Like a lot of things these days, it seems like it is only recent history, but when you do the sums, its over 40 years old. The writer is a guy called Mervyn Moore and its a wonderful record of the end of the manned lightships around our coast. I realise it is very long and very few will get to the end but nonetheless I will reproduce it in its entirety for anybody with family who worked on the lightships around our east and south coasts. Unfortunately the photographs accompanying the article are not good enough quality to reproduce here.