St John's Point Lighthouse, Co Down
"Out all day birdwatching and the craic was good" - Cooney Island
The weather was that of a perfect first of January when Sophie and I embarked on a road-trip. It felt right, to start the year by deciding to hit the road and see where it would take us.
It would take us on the Mourne Coastal Road, past Bloody Bridge and all the way into the fields of Killough up the road to St John’s Point and its lighthouse.
Sitting next to the abandoned ruins of St John’s church, this is one of the two lighthouses in Ireland called St John’s Point Lighthouse. The other one is right across the land, in Donegal. And both were designed by Ireland main lighthouse engineer of the 1800s; George Halpin Sr.
You can stay at both lighthouses, with a little prep and budget, neither of which we happened to have on hand. So, we settled for taking deep breathes, looking over the roaring Irish Sea as the light behind us was shining over land and water.
There were a few of us, taking in the view, the wind, the sound and the fury of the waves.
While Fastnet is the tallest Irish lighthouse offshore, St John’s Point Lighthouse is the tallest to sit on mainland Ireland.
Built in 1844, it’s been standing vigil to the coast ever since, with no interruption of service.
The original tower stood at 45 foot (14m) from 1844 to 1891, at which point, following recommendations by the board, its height was increased to 120 feet (37m) and is currently fitted by a bi-form 920mm annular lens.
Since 1957, it’s been running on electricity. Before that, lights source was oil (until 1975), coal gas (until 1908) and paraffin vapour. An auxiliary light, directed toward Dundrum Bay on the 3rd floor of the lighthouse is also running on electricity.
As we walked around the walls surrounding the lighthouse’s grounds, we came face to face with the foghorns.
It was my first tie seeing some up close, and could only imagine for an instant them blowing up right there and then. And listening to waves coming up, unrelenting on the rocky shores, it’s easy to understand the need for those huge red horns, so their sound can be heard from shore over nature’s soundtrack.
In 1902 the tower white color was painted to its bumblebee daymark look it is known for today. Daymark are meant to offer a visual of the lighthouse during day time, when the lights are not shining.
Nonetheless, in heavy weather or low visibility days, the lights are always on at St John’s Point, as on that 1st of January, where we could see the lights from Bloody Bridge as we had our fancy Centra bought picnic.
Later that day we would be walking on Tyrella’s beach, full of soft greys and light pinks, and still see the lights shining atop a faraway building.
The history of the lighthouse is light in mysteries and strange happenings. But it’s linked to the history of two ships.
In its first instalment, before its height being pushed up and the daymark being changed, the lighthouse was mistaken by the captain of the SS Great Britain for the Isle of Man Chicken Rock lighthouse in 1846. It stayed grounded on Dundrum Bay for a year, and this incident is called to be where modern ship salvaging was born. Indeed the ship was refloated after a year of operations and towed back to Liverpool. The fully restored hull can be seen at Bristol Harbour where it now sits after having been around the world with passengers and then cargo.
Decades after this event, another ship whose name would be one for the history books came near St John's Point Lighthouse. This time it was the HMS Titanic who passed by on its way to Southampton in 1912.
On May 31st 1998, the lighthouse was automated - like all other automated lighthouses, it’s handled from Irish Lights’ headquarters in Dún Laoghaire.
In 2016, when there was the possibility of taking the lense down to replace it with a LED, Van Morrison who wrote of the lighthouse in his “Cooney Island“ song, gave his support to the local cause. Thanks to the local effort to bring attention to this issue, the LED was never brought in and the flashing light of the lighthouse keeps on rotating.
My adventure companion this day was Sophie, of Tailorbirds - you can find their music over here. Be ready for plant music, electric violin and loops to take you to another universe. Their website is over at Tailorbirds.com for merch, gig dates and other goodies.
If you want to sponsor a night or two at the St John's Point lighthouse, do not hesitate to become a patron of this substack. All paid subscriptions are going toward my lighthouse obsession (gas to go visit, nights, entrance tickets, books, …)
Until next time - keep shining :)
Oh! I'll have to go visit!