An unflattering view of Broadhaven from 1880
John Swan Sloane is the lighthouse legend who keeps on giving. He was the Superintendent of Works for the Ballast Board and Irish Lights before being eased out, an action which spurred him onto greater and greater vituperation against his former employers in publications such as The Irish Builder. I recently came across this piece from him in that publication on 1st September 1880.
"Perhaps there are few places not on rocks more desolate than Gubcashel Point, at the western side of the entrance to Broadhaven, in the County Mayo.
'Here, at the instance of the coastguard authorities, who first applied for it in 1843, was determined in 1853 to build a lighthouse to guide from seaward to the entrance to the channel and up the haven, and clear of a sunken rock on western side. The tower and dwellings were built by the corporation’s workmen, from the designs of Mr. Halpin. Whe this station was first visited by the author in 1861, he was struck with the extreme loneliness of it, and the dangerous results that might accrue from such a state of things in case of sickness. It was what is called an assistant station, and the wretched salary of £46 3s per annum was not enough to enable the keeper to have a servant.
'He represented the matter to the late Sir James Dombrain who, ever alive to what would benefit those under him, took the necessary action, and had a sum allocated to each single station by way of payment for a female keeper. This was one of the many good things accomplished by the author, and for which he received but scant gratitude. Broadhaven, although raised to a principal station, is still perhaps the worst in Ireland, being far from any town, and in the midst of a wild, uncultivated region, with few if any inhabitants. It is a third dioptric and was a tolerably good light until the authorities adopted the cheap and nasty mineral oil mis-called ‘paraffin.’ The cost of its erection was £5,715 2s 1d."
Former keepers feel the desolation
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