Pete's Irish Lighthouses

For some reason, there has been a lot of lighthouse stuff in the media recently and consequently a lot of people who know of my fascination with the subject, coming up to me and asking if I heard the radio series on the Lightkeepers or watched the recent Great Lighthouses of Ireland television series. (The answer to both was yes!!) Now comes an absolutely sumptuous book "Lighthouses of Ireland" written and illustrated by Roger O'Reilly, a 200 page hardback volume with over 280 illustrations that show the great diversity of lighthouses in Ireland, whether in their location, size or colouring. However, this is no mere text book - though each of the lighthouses is described in an informative yet easy-to-read style - but more of a work of art. For the illustrations are not photographs but hand drawn illustrations that capture mood as well as detail. It is a beautiful book, personally signed and quite a bargain at €27.99 on Roger's website . This price approximates to ...

Despite the fact that I live in the same county, it is five years now since I last visited the beautiful and historic Balbriggan lighthouse   on the northern shores of county Dublin. The lighthouse is one of the earliest original structures in the country that is still operating - with an inauguration date stretching back to the 1700s - and I have always been fortunate to visit in brilliant sunshine. Sadly, over the years, the lighthouse fell into neglect and looked very dirty and dishevelled. The dome had been removed in the 1960s due to corrosion and it looked very much as though the lighthouse was destined to fall into complete disrepair. However, towards the end of August, I got a mail from Russ Rowlett of the lighthouse directory in America, asking how work on replacing the dome was progressing. To my shame, I had heard nothing about this project but, scouring the net, discovered that plans had been afoot towards the end of 2017 to install a replacement dome and restore...

This blog is mainly about lighthouses, their physical structure, history and location. The role of the lightkeeper, whereas it has been a secondary area of interest, has been neglected by me, probably for the extremely selfish reason that my family, as far back as I can remember, consisted primarily of agricultural labourers (or 'ag labs' as they are commonly known in genealogical circles) with a few fishermen thrown in for good measure. Recent correspondence with a lovely lady named Heather Walker has focussed my attention on the role of the lightkeeper. She is descended from an Irish lightkeeping dynasty - the Redmonds - that scanned Irish waters in the nineteenth century. Trying to help to unravel the various branches of the family has been akin to a murder mystery puzzle and great fun. I sometimes wish for the solitary life of the keeper but this may well be pure romanticism on my part. The Sheeps Head peninsula in West Cork is heaven on earth when seen on a sunny summ...

Its been quite a while since I bagged what my wife would term a real, Irish lighthouse. The lighthouse at the eastern entrance to Dingle Bay is certainly that, though it is not operated by the Commissioner of Irish Lights. Actually, we got photos of it in two ways - firstly from the water and secondly from the land. We tried our hand at rowing a naomhog (little saint), similar to a currach, except long and slender. There is a place on Dingle marina where you can try your hand at it. The boats are easily rowed, fly through the water and the day we did it was as calm as sea as you're likely to get. Anyway, we rowed almost to the mouth of the harbour near the lighthouse and I managed to get the first two photographs here. The second set of photographs from land can be reached by a path all the way from Dingle, if you have the time, or from a quarter of a mile away, if you haven't. A beautiful spot and even Fungi, the dolphin, put in an appearance for us. The ligh...

Okay, not the most visually stimulating of navigational lights but I include it here as a blatant plug for Ballydavid on the eastern side of Smerwick Bay, on the northern side of the Dinle peninsula. Ballydavid is quite off the beaten track and is very small but has a lot going for it, including a lovely safe sandy beach, a very picturesque pier and harbour, great community spirit and a couple of beachfront pubs serving creamy pints of Guinness. Mount Brandon, its top almost permanently shrouded in mist, in the background.

A few days walking holiday down on the Dingle peninsula in early June and I managed to inveigle my travelling companions, Aiden and Brenda, to climb Carhoo Hill near the western entrance of Dingle harbour to reach Eask Tower. We had been able to see the edifice on top of the hill from back at the Conor Pass but my attempts to describe the structure met with puzzlement. "Its built of solid stone and its rounded at the top kind of like a silo and it has an arm sticking out...." "So its a statue" "No, its a beacon." When we finally got there, Brenda described it much more eloquently as "a big stone Dalek." It can be reached by branching left from the Ventry Road at Ballymore, 4km west of Dingle. Unfortunately it isn't signposted, so you have to hope you have the right road. You don't see the tower for at least a kilometer but when you do, you should be heading for the left of it. The path to the top is well signposted and there are sp...

I have started rounding up all the research I did on my wife's Behan and Kane ancestry with a view to bringing out a small book for the family. One of her antecedents, a lady with the infuriatingly common name of Catherine Byrne, hailed from a place called Barnacullia, which is situated, as per the Dublin tradition of giving directions by pubs, in between Lamb Doyles and Johnny Fox's. To get there, probably by the M50, its a bit of a rigmarole. Come off the motorway and at the end of the slip take the first exit at the roundabout down the R133  towards Marlay Park. You're kind of doubling back on yourself here. After about 2kms, you take a left at a set of lights, signposted for Stepaside and Glencullen on the R822. Shortly after, at another set of lights, you need to turn left on the R113. Follow this road back over the M50 until you come to Lamb Doyle's pub, after about 1.6 kms. Take a right and keep going up. The road is narrow and you may need to stop o...