The very shy Achillbeg lighthouse

 

All photos by Joe McCabe

To all intents and purposes, there are only two real differences between the lighthouse on Achillbeg and the one on the Sheep's Head in Cork.

The Sheeps Head has a red handrail leading up the steps to its door, whereas Achillbeg appears to be quite handrail-less.

Most people of moderate walking abilities can walk right up to the Sheeps Head and give it a hug. With Achillbeg, people may have seen it as a small dot from Clare Island but not many have got much nearer. Naturally, the reason for the first lies in the second.

All photos except the top one are by Joe McCabe 

A light was established on the western point of Clare Island in 1806 to mark the entrance to Clew Bay and Westport but, unfortunately, like many of those old lights - Wicklow, Inis Mor, Cape Clear etc - they thought that the higher they put them, the further the light could be seen. Which was true on a clear day but hills attract the mischt and Clare Islaned light was often rendered useless. Now, the Irish lighthouse authorities were regarded as the ultimate procrastinators but they excelled themselves in this instance. 155 years to rectify the blunder and establish the light on Achillbeg instead!

To paraphrase Father Ted, this lighthouse is small but this lighthouse is far away. Achillbeg's tower is 9m tall, though it doesn't really look that big. Work started in 1964 with the raw materials being landed by boat and then donkeys and a tractor were used to haul them up to the precarious spot on whch she now sits.

Another difference between Achillbeg and Sheeps Head (actually, now I think about it, they're not very similar at all) is that the Mayo light has three red sectors. And one of them is a high intensity light to warn of the dangers of the Bills Rocks, nine miles to the west.

The light was powered by electricity, though there was always a back-up generator in case of power cuts.

Clare Island was finally turned off on the 28th September 1965 and, at sunset that evening, the new light on Achillbeg shone forth for the first time. In attendance were Ernest Benson, the Chair of Irish Lights, Michael Keane of Blacksod who had been in charge of construction and Patrick Kilbane from Cloghmore, the first attendant of the new station. In those early days, the attendant monitored the lighthouse via a UHF link to his home, but in 1991, it was hooked up to Dun Laoghaire instead.

Boatbuilder John O'Malley of Currane, Achill, spent forty years as the attendant of the lighthouse, making frequent trips out from his mainland home to the island. Sometimes, when the Commissioners were in town, he would have to don his lightkeeping uniform when making sure that everything ran smoothly.

In the 1841 Census, 178 people were resident on the island. The last people left just a few days after the lighthouse was established. The lights of the twenty five cottages were replaced by the red and white lights of the beacon.

Achillbeg doesn't really go in for self-publicity. Undoubtedly, it has issues in that regard, sitting as it does under the frowning gaze of the lighthouse it replaced. Its like breaking into the County team but the old guy you've replaced with seven All-Irelands still thinks he can cut the mustard. And he's there all the time, glaring at you.

Except when the mischt is down, of course.