Pete's Irish Lighthouses

The Maidens light, county Antrim This is a poem wot I wrote many years ago and which I actually set to music a few years ago. However, I am no Donnacha O'Laoghaire either vocally or on the geetar, so I'll reproduce the poem without the musical violation. Incidentally, there is, nor ever was, a lighthouse off Tremaine, nor any village of that name, that I am aware of and the events only happened in my morbid imagination. Eeragh lighthouse, the Aran Islands Come hear my strange story, repulsive and gory, about one who was ruthlessly slain. It happened, you see, back in 1903 on the lighthouse two miles off Tremaine. The storm lashed the bay on that terrible day, clouds darkened the sea like a stain. And when evening fell, it became black as hell, with no beam from the light off Tremaine. By eleven o’clock, there were crowds on the dock, all willing the tempest to wane. But the winds from the north meant no boat could set forth for the lighthouse two miles off Tremaine. Still no li...

Edward McCarron, author of 'Life in Donegal' was a keeper at Dundalk, Arranmore, Inishtrahull, Tearaght, and others from the 1870s I came across this poem by somebody called A.M.C.(a strange name with very few letters in it?) in the Cork Examiner of 5th November 1892. Imaginatively called ' The Lighthouse Keepers,' its message is basically to appreciate the lightkeeper while he is around, for there would be carnage if he ever stopped lighting his lamps. Francis James Ryan and Mary nee Redmond,  married in 1867, and then circumnavigated the country. Far away on a rocky coast where great waves dash and roar, And vessels passing to and fro keep off the dreaded shore: The lighthouse stands, silent and cold, in solemn loneliness: Towering far above the sea, and the ocean's wild caress. William Landers, a devout Methodist, served at Clare Island and Inishgort for many years in the mid-1800s Ever and ever the breakers crash; ever the seabirds fly, Mingling the noise of t...

Roseate terns at Rockabill lighthouse. I have no idea if they are migratory. Photograph  Aidan Arnold On March 29th to 30th 1911, a great rush of birds was observed along the south and east coasts of Ireland from the Old Head of Kinsale up to Balbriggan. It was apparently so noticeable that newspapers commented on it for days afterwards. The excessive numbers appeared for several days afterwards but the night of March 29th / 30th appears to have been the peak. Ornithologist, Richard Manliffe Barrington, whose work with lightkeepers in the last 20 years of the nineteenth century had done so much to aid our understanding of bird migration, wrote a paper on the event a few months later. Thanks to his lightkeeping connections, he was able to pinpoint the extent of the bird rush and suggest a probable cause. I quote from his paper. Turning now to the light-stations on the coast, the most northerly from which any special number of birds was reported is BALBRIGGAN Mr. E. A. Kennedy, lig...

  Barrels lightship c.1908. This was the LV Torch, an iron-framed ship, built in 1881, sold and scrapped in 1945 The Barrels lightship was established in 1880 at a point two miles south of Carnsore Point. It gave two red flashes in quick succession every thirty seconds, warning boats to keep to the seaward side of it. Like all Irish light vessels of the time it was painted black and had the words 'BARRELS ROCK' painted in large white letters on her sides. This was subsequently changed to 'BARRELS' in order to minimise painting costs. Position of Barrels Lightvessel, centre of page, south of Carnsore Point. LV Coningbeg is bottom left of page Life on board light vessels was no bed of roses  at the best of times unless the roses were the really thorny ones that can lacerate someone's finger just by looking at it. With no power and held in position by a massive chain, the crew had practically no control over the elements in a boat that was built with absolutely no noti...

  I should point out that I originally posted this article without any caption to the two plans used to illustrate this article. What a klutz. People correctly identified the plans as Rathlin East and assumed they came with the article. They didn't. I took photos of the plans when up in Rathlin lasyt year and there were no illustrations of the original 1858 article A letter appeared in the Ulsterman of 30th July 1858 purporting to come from a John Halsey of Dublin, recounting an experience he had while a pay clerk with the Ballast Board. The writer said he was an English Protestant who, through his several careers had worked for one of the Irish railways, the coastguard and The Ballast Board and was now retired, and there was not a parcel of wild and untrodden land on and off the Irish coastline that he was not familiar with. He then described a Ballast Board visit to the island of Craignascarb which I reproduce in full, despite its length. (There will be questions afterwards, so ...

The Great Lighthouses of Ireland published by Gill Books ( As a preface to this review of David Hare's book, I believe two points should be made. Firstly, I am not a professional reviewer. Reviewing other people's work, that has taken months and years of their time, does not sit easy with me. Especially as it takes a mere hour of my life tapping away on a keyboard drinking coffee. I am not really qualified to write a review but seeing as this blog is about lighthouses and this book is a major addition to the library, I feel I should contribute a post about it. Secondly, if a touch of malice is detected in the review, this is probably down to sheer jealousy. David Hare approached Irish Lights in 2013 and got access all areas to light stations and archives. I approached them in 2020 and again in 2022 and got a firm 'no.' And there appears to be little to suggest this will change any time soon.) One of the many stunning and unusual photographs from David's book - the d...

  Tory Island lighthouse (Photograph The State Library of South Australia) Following on the first post in this series , regarding Fanad lighthouse, this "letter to Granny" in the Weekly Irish Times 24th January 1905 won second prize in the Letter of the Week competition. The powerful light that Shawn refers to is, I believe, the same optic that went to Mew Island and from there to the waterfront on Belfast's maritime mile. However, Shawn, for some reason, did not give his real name. Luckily (for us), Granny mentioned that he was really Master Jack Watson aged 11, of Loop Head lighthouse.  Jack was the son of James Watson (Service number 77) a Corkman born in Castletownbere to a coastguard. He had married in 1889 while living at Weaver's Point just across the Cork Harbour entrance from Roche's Point. James had served on Eeragh on the Aran Islands, the Old Head of Kinsale, Galley Head and Eeragh again. And presumably, Tory and Loop Head. James' wife (Jane) died...