Annalong

 I was intrigued by an entry in the Lighthouse Directory for Annalong and I quote:
"Date unknown. Inactive for many years. Approx. 5 m (17 ft) round stone tower, painted white. Eric Jones has a photo, but the tiny tower has not been found in Bing's satellite view of the town. Jones writes that "In the old days a light used to be placed in the pepper-pot style white tower to assist ships wishing to enter the harbour." Located on the south side of the Annalong River in Annalong. Site and tower closed (private property), but the light can be seen from nearby."

 Annalong looks to be a nice modern village on the shores of the Irish Sea, slightly tarnished (to southern eyes!) by the abundance of Union Jacks and kerbstones painted red, white and blue, which many of us in the Republic find a bit intimidating but is really only an expression of pride in their nationality up here. A turn on the main road, signposted to Harbour (on the north side of the church) brings you down to the lovely old-fashioned harbour.

 The top photo shows a view of the harbour with the strange lighthouse up on an elevation behind it. The house can be half seen from a number of locations in the vicinity but in the end, I took the bull by the horns and knocked on the door of the house in whose garden it was.

 A man answered and he was very helpful, telling me to go ahead and snap away. He told me the light was 300 years old and was built when the harbour was built. It was a leading light and there had been another one at the mouth of the harbour. Boats would line the two lights up to access the narrow entrance of the harbour.

 He pointed out the very significant lean on the lighthouse and pointed out where the holes for the lights (oil lamps, he said) had been plastered over in the past. He also said that when they had come to build the extension on their house, they had been amazed at the extent of the foundations of the lighthouse! The building was a Grade 2 listed building, which meant they couldn't even give it a lick of paint.

I later found that Annalong Harbour was built around 1820, which would put this most unusual and unique lighthouse at an age of nearer 200 years, than 300. But it still is a most remarkable edifice.

 Below and above, the new light at the end of a pier outside Annalong Harbour itself.

Cranfield Point (Lost lighthouse)

The Haulbowline light (see previous post) at the midpoint entrance to Carlingford Lough was built in the early 1820s to replace the Cranfield Point lighthouse on the northeasternmost tip of Carlingford Lough. It is actually the most southerly point in Northern Ireland. The lighthouse was built in 1803 and I can find precious little about it on the web, save that it succumbed to coastal erosion in the 1860s and tumbled onto the foreshore. But it was apparently built on a site with lighthouse keepers cottages attached, which remained as the relieving cottages for Haulbowline until 1922.

The most straightforward way to reach Cranfield Point (says he ironically) is to go into Kilkeel. If coming from Newry direction, take a right turn at the lights. If coming from Annalong direction, keep going straight at the lights. Keep on this road for about 3 miles. There is a left turn on the road opposite a house with a large tower chimney and a conservatory. Follow this - watch out for the ramps! - until you come to the sea. Turn right and follow the road, which deteriorates. When the old coastguard station (bottom photograph) comes into view, you'd better park up and walk the rest of the way (I found a lovely man made descent down to the beach where I could park)

Follow the path overlooking the beach until you come to the house at the end with the black chimneys. This is the lighthouse keepers cottages. The gates are locked - it is private property - but you can just about circumnavigate it through a) clambering down boulders by the wall onto the beach and b) taking the gate through a field behind the property. Be very careful though - evidence of coastal erosion is everywhere (see the second last photograph on the page)

So we have the cottages. But where is the former lighthouse? There is a lot of coastal erosion around the property, so maybe it was seaward side of the cottages and has completely disappeared. (there were no traces of it on the beach) Or maybe, that circle in the garden, marked by poles, buoys and boulders is the site of the original foundation. The latter seems more likely. It is quite close to the edge and the foundations could easily have been disturbed. Sadly, my hopes of finding an old bit of gallery rail or stone steps were not to be!

I did follow the beach to Cranfield Point itself just past the cottages. The sand had disappeared and it was boulder strewn. Not advisable to do it in high heels, I'd imagine. One desolate place!

 Coastal erosion

The old Coastguard station (pass this to reach Cranfield Point)

Haulbowline (yet again)

 Five years since I was here and this time I got two different perspectives of it. The first four photos on the page were taken about 8.35pm on a summer's evening from Greenore lighthouse on the northern tip of the Cooley peninsula in the Republic. In these pictures the rock that the light sits on is clearly visible and is a lot more extensive than I had imagined. The bottom four photos are taken from positions on the Northern Ireland side (the north eastern tip of Carlingford Lough) a position much nearer than Greenore.

 The lighthouse was built after a request was made in 1817 to the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin (the Ballast Board) by the merchants of Newry to replace the 1803 Cranfield Point Lighthouse due to the latter's poor position in marking the dangerous rocks at the entrance to Carlingford Lough and also its inadequacy for the guiding of vessels at the west end of the Lough. 

The cut stone tower of Haulbowline Lighthouse was designed by the Board's Inspector of Works & Inspector of Lighthouses, George Halpin (senior), and was built under his direction by workmen of the Board. Its overall height is 34m and the main light is 32m above high water. Building this tower on a semi-submerged rock with fast currents running around it was a remarkable achievement at the time. The tower was painted white and remained so until 1946 when it was changed to its natural stone colour.

 A fixed white light was exhibited on 1 September 1824, and a half tide light was also exhibited from a small lantern approximately half way up the tower on the seaward side. During daytime a large ball was hoisted on a mast above the lantern to indicate the tide.

Newry River Narrow Water Beacon

 Roughly 300 yards upstream from the Newry River Rear Light (previous post) lies this magnificent stone beacon, abreast of Narrow Water castle. It was somewhere near here that King John forded the river on a pontoon in 1210.

 This little baby doesn't date back as far as that - it possibly dates back to the 1880s like the two pseudo-Irish round towers just downstream. The castle itself dates back to the 1600s but as far as I can see, nobody ever shone a light through it to guide ships up or down the river, so it can't be classed as a lighthouse.

 The castle was closed when I visited, but by skirting the walls, I came out only a few yards from this beacon. Even a t that distance, its appearance was deceptive, because the high water mark lined up with the bank behind. I had to tell myself that the stonework below the high water mark was not a reflection in the water but part of the tower exposed by the low tide! In the second and third photographs on this page, the rock that it guards is clearly seen. It appears to rise about 12 feet above the high water mark.

Newry River Rear Light

 Dwarfed by the beautiful Mourne mountains of the Cooley peninsula, the Newry River Rear Light (built 1887) lies very near the site of the proposed bridge to cross the river (see previous post)

 Five years since I was last here, this time I was able to glimpse the little red door at the bottom of the tower.Directly opposite you from the roundabout on the A2 on the Newry side of Warrenpoint.

Newry River Front light

 The Newry River runs through Newry (unsurprisingly) and then runs into Carlingford Lough. Before it does so, though, the river goes through a series of narrow shoals near Warrenpoint. The two lights here (best seen from the first roundabout on the Newry side of Warrenpoint - you can actually park on the roundabout) when lined up show the best path up and down the river.

 Both lights are the property of the Warrenpoint Harbour Authority and were erected during the late 1880s by Allan MacDonnell, engineer of the Newry Navigation Company. They were originally lit with an oil lamp but are now electrically powered. It is five years since I was here last and nothing much has changed, though not for want of trying. Apparently they are trying to get a bridge built across the Newry River at this very spot (ie from the roundabout) but it appears political will is waning, even though local support for the project on both sides of the border still runs strong. The two round towers are safe but the bridge would interfere with the lining up of the two towers, so another tower is proposed to be built as part of the bridge impact plans, if and when the project goes ahead.
 

Mew Island

 Mew Island is situated at the southern end of the approaches to Belfast Harbour and would have waved the Titanic on its way west a hundred years ago. The picture above was taken in Groomsport, the contour of the island obscuring its lower half.. The snaps below were from the layby mentioned in the previous post.

 The light and fog signal came into operation on 1st November 1884. The fog signal was discontinued in 1991 and the light became automatic in 1996.

It was a few miles east of Mew Island that the passenger and car ferry The Princess Victoria sank on 31st January 1953 with the loss of 132 lives.

Copeland Island (Lighthouse Island)

Driving east from Bangor, I was hoping to get a view of the former lighthouse on Copeland Island and its replacement on Mew Island. I drove up a private road in Groomsport, thinking I might get a view but unfortunately Mew Island itself obscured the lighthouse there, so I drove a mile further around the coast towards Donaghdee, where I found a layby that afforded me this view and the next one.
The lighthouse here was established in the early eighteenth century. In 1796, the coal fire light atop a cottage was replaced by a lantern in a 40ft tower. In 1810, a new 52 ft tower and lantern was erected. It served until 1884, when the new light at nearby Mew Island came into operation.
The stump of the tower can be made out by those with good eyes in between the dilapidated stone house and the modern whitewashed cottages.

From Samuel Lewis' County Down in 1833 "Lighthouse, or, as it is also called, Cross island, is about 1 mile (N. E) from Copeland island, and is one furlong in length and about half a furlong in breadth, comprising about 24 acres. The Lighthouse from which it takes its name is a square tower, 70 feet high to the lantern, which displays a light to the south-east, to guide vessels from the north and south rocks, which are 34 leagues distant, and to the north-west, to guard them from the Hulin or Maiden rocks lying between the mouths of Larne and Glenarm. The lighthouse is situated in lat.,54° 41' 15" (N) and long. 5° 31' (W), and the light is plainly seen at Portpatrick and the Mull in Galway, in Scotland, from the latter in which it is 10 leagues distant."

Bangor Pier Head Light

Not quite sure why this little baby doesn't rate a s a lighthouse in Russ Rowlett's Directory? It certainly qualifies under his terms of reference - "a lighthouse is a lightbeacon having a height of at least 4 meters (13 ft) and a cross-section, at the base, of at least 4 square meters (43 sq ft)." This feller, sitting on the end of the pier in Bangor, co Down certainly fits the bill. You can reach it by walking the pier. Alas, I could only find a parking space around the other side of the marina, so took the easy route up the private commercial pier opposite, for which I will surely pay in the fires of Hell.

Lightship Petrel

And so to the lightship Petrel. I didn't think I'd find this, as directions were pretty vague but it rather fell into our laps. Go into Balloo on the A22. At the Saintfield crossroads take the road signposted Whiterock. Go through Killinchy and when yo get to Whiterock, there is a sudden bend to the left. Keep following this road, ignoring a road that leads right across a causeway, and after about 3/4 mile, the lightship is on your right.
Built around 1915, decommissioned in 1968, it has been the headquarters of the Down Cruising Club since 1969. Delighted to find a lightship that has been put to some use.

Donaghdee

And so, up the coast to this very picturesque lighthouse standing smartly to attention at the end of the pier in Donaghdee. Originally erected in 1836, it was designed by the men who built the Eddystone Lighthouse off Plymouth, though substantially repaired when gutted by fire in 1900. Brendan Behan apparently painted this lighthouse, though I suspect more in a fine art way than a decorating way.

Incidentally, approaching Donaghdee from the south, I kept glimpsing what I assumed was the lighthouse at Mews Island, north east of Donaghdee. Ah, says I, I'll get a better view of it the further up the coast I go. Unfortunately between Donaghdee and the outskirts of Bangor there was no sea view at all. If I'd had time, I'd have detoured off to Groomsport where I believe it might have been possible to get a decent view, but the shops of Newry, like Danny Boy's pipes, were calling.

Near South Rock

The other object sticking up above the horizon from Cloghey is this mystery object. No mention of it in Trabas, it appears to be sitting on a rock directly east of Cloghey, maybe 2 miles out to sea, possibly less. If it isn't a light, I've no idea what it is.

South Rock (Kilwarlin) Lighthouse

Driving north from Portaferry on the A2, after about 5 miles, you finally hit the sea at Cloughey, Cloghy, Cloughy or Cloghey and lo and behold, gazing out onto the still waters, there are two objects sticking up above the horizon.
This is the more southerly of the two, the famous South Rock or Kilwarlin Lighthouse. Built by Thomas Rogers in 1797, it is the oldest waveswept lighthouse in Ireland and possibly in the world. It was replaced by the South Rock lightship in 1877.

Swan Rock (again)

Better photos than the last time - http://irishlighthouses.blogspot.com/2007/08/angus-rock-strangford.html - this little pepperpot light is situated on an island just off Strangford and very close to the route of the ferry that plies its 8 minute journey between Strangford and Portaferry on the Ards peninsular.

The Narrows, Strangford

Okay, okay! At first I thought this had to be a lighthouse, even though I could find no reference to it. I mean, what else could it be?
From Wikipedia - "SeaGen is the name given to the 1.2MW tidal energy convertor that was installed in Strangford Lough in April 2008"