Passage Point, the Spider Light

I am indebted to Andrew O'Doherty, who writes the brilliant "Waterford Harbour Tides 'n' Tales " blog  for drawing my attention to an excellent post of his on the Passage Point Light, which I visited in 2014 and which appears in a sorry state of disrepair.
There are only four such screwpile lighthouses left in Ireland - at Moville in Derry, Dundalk Bay, Cobh and here, marking the approaches to Waterford and New Ross harbours. The blind engineer, Alexander Mitchell, who designed the screwpile lights, also took his invention to England, where none survive. America seems to be the only place where they are thriving.
The lights at Cobh, Moville and Dundalk are very well maintained but here at Passage East, the Spider Light (as it is colloquially known) which marks a dangerous bank of sand stretching to the Waterford shore, appears uncared for. A brick support, for example, appears to have been replaced by metal bars. The paint is peeling and one can see, in years to come, that it will be replaced by one of those soulless poles with a light on top. It is already halfway there.
As a country, an Taisce and the like seem to be keen to preserve every old post office and bank but turns a blind eye when it comes to lighthouses. Greenore in co. Louth has been left to the elements. Castlemaine Beacon fell into the sea. The old lights at Inish Mor and Cape Clear have been left to the mercy of the elements. The incredibly important cottage lighthouses at Loop Head and the Old Head of Kinsale lie derelict.
Lighthouses are a valuable part of our maritime history and deserve our protection too. The Spider Light will be 150 years old next year and it would be a great boost, not only to the area, but also to those of us who care about our maritime history, to see it restored to its former glory.

Dunmore Harbour Coastwatch tower

As the Lighthouse Directory points out, Marinas has included this Coast Watch tower overlooking Dunmore East harbour on the list of their lighthouses. It isn't actually a lighthouse though. (This view is a poor shot from the landward side - Marinas' photos, as always, are much better)
There is a similar coast watch tower adjoining Hook Head lighthouse on the far side of the river.(sixth photo down)

Dunmore East

One of my favourite spots on the coast is Dunmore East, lovely thatched cottages, a lovely cliff top park, nice beach with picnic area and on a sunny day it has views to die for. We were here back in 2008, when I got close-up and personal with the lighthouses, so contented myself this time with views looking down at the harbour.

One of my favourite Irish lighthouses (I do tend to say that about a lot of them!) this one has a rather unique design - in Ireland anyway. It was built in 1825 by the great Alexander Nimmo, a Scottish engineer who built numerous harbours and bridges, though, as far as we are certain, this is his only lighthouse. There is a school of thought that he says he was also responsible for building the beacons at Tramore Bay too, (here) but there is some dispute over this.

I am told the lighthouse resembles a fluted Doric column. I'll go along with that.

Note the new pierhead light and also Hook Head across the estuary in the background

Killea Village

The little hamlet of Killea lies about a mile inland from Dunmore East, on high ground overlooking the coast. An ancient topographical dictionary of the area, dated 1837, says the village contained "Round Tower (stump of) supposed to have been an ancient lighthouse"

Well, I looked but couldn't see the ruins of a round tower, either in the current church grounds, or in the graveyard, with the ruined square tower opposite it. And I can find no further clues to its existence.

Passage Point, co. Waterford

A few days down in Waterford and boy, were we blessed with the weather. After a rubbish August, we got endless September sunshine. Best country in the world when the sun shines!
We decided to take the Passage East to Ballyhack ferry, joining Waterford to Wexford, and visit the lighthouse at Hook Head. On the way, we stopped off at Arthurstown to view this screwpile lighthouse in the middle of the Suir. I thought it was the only Leinster lighthouse I hadn't got, but seeing as it's joined to the Waterford side of the river by a sandbank, presumably it's a Munster lighthouse instead.

 We might have got a bit better picture on the short hop down from Ballyhack to Arthurstown if there had been any stopping places but the pier at Arthurstown offered as good a vantage point as any. As you might have guessed this a screwpile light approximately 23 feet above the River Suir. It has a fixed light and was constructed in 1867. The other three screwpile lights in Ireland are at Moville (county Donegal), Dundalk Bay and Cobh.

The Lighthouse Directory, God bless it,  mentions the light being mounted on a brick column, as evidenced from the picture below, but there was no sign of the brick on our visit.

Mine Head

Off into the small but perfectly formed gaeltacht enclave in county Waterford to seek out Mine Head lighthouse (teachsolais?) Of course there are no signs and now the signs are in Irish! Great! Didn't actually find the road. I tried three different roads, all of which ended up in farms. This is the nearest I got!Built in 1851, it is apparently Ireland highest lighthouse, so my picture unfortunately does not do it justice.

Ballynacourty Point

A blitz of lighthouses in the west county Waterford / east county Cork area one September day with the weather gradually deteriorating. My slow progress along the coast indicative of the lack of signposting. Finding the lighthouses was more down to judging sense of direction as there is no help! This is Ballynacourty Point on the northern point of Dungarvan harbour. Found by taking the local road skirting the harbour until you can go no more, turn inland and at the T junction turn right up the road marked cul de sac. The lighthouses, along with the usual dire warnings, is located down a long skinny lane between holes 6 and 7 of the golf-course (Golfers have to cross this lane)

The lighthouse itself was built in 1858. The picture below was taken from An Rinn on the south shore of Dungarvan harbour.

Dunmore East Lighthouse

Located at the end of the original harbour wall in Dunmore East, this Romanesque lighthouse guarded one side of the Barrow / Suir estuary, the other side watched over by Hook Head. Despite this, this whole area is known as the Graveyard of a Thousand Ships.

The lighthouse is built into a wall - the entrance must be through one of the green doors on the wall??

Consequently, the lighthouse is a lot shorter and squatter when viewed from the seaward side!!

Dunmore East Lighthouse with Hook Head across the river in the background. Further up the coast from Dunmore East (and consequently on the Waterford side of the river) is the village of Crooke - this is the origin of the phrase "By Hook or by Crooke."

There is a bit of a spur built on from the lighthouse on the old harbour wall. A new light guards this spur.

Brownstown Head, Tramore Head

Okay, so these are not really lighthouses but they are very definitely aids to maritime mavigation and they are lighthouse-like in appearance, so I reckon they are worthy of mention. Brownstown Head (above) is adorned with two pillars, Tramore Head (below) is adorned with three, the centre one of which plays host to the famous "Metal man," which is something of a symbol of Tramore.