Fanad Head Lighthouse, Co. Donegal
Fanad Head The Fanad Peninsula lies between Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay on the north coast of County Donegal. The peninsula is a slow-moving area with lots of lovely walks. One of the most popular walks is to the saddle between Callaghpatrick (741 feet (228 m)) and the main ridge. If you follow the obvious vertical slab of rock up onto the ridge, you can reach the summit of Cnoc Colbha (1,190 feet (366 m)). The gentle ridge affords excellent views of the magnificent golden sands of Portsalon and Ballymastocker Bay. If you travel southwards, the views extend north to Fanad Head lighthouse. Continuing on to the lighthouse, you will come across a holy well covered with offerings and an impressive cliff arch called the Great Arch.
Fanad Head lighthouse sits on the end of the peninsula on the western shore. Because of its location it can safeguard ships in the North Atlantic and the entrance to Swilly Lough. It was built as a sea light and established on 17 March 1817 (navigational location 55o 16.6? N 7o 37.9? W). The design was by George Halpin Senior. He used a design similar to those at Mutton Island and Roche?s Point.
The lighthouse was built as a result of the Saldana being wrecked on the treacherous rocks below the Head with all lives lost. The only survivor was a parrot, which was identified by a silver collar with the name of the ship on it. The Dublin Ballast Board recommended that the lighthouse be built after being petitioned to do so by Captain Hill of the Royal Navy stationed at Londonderry. He said, after sailing the northwest coast from Lough Foyle to Blacksod Bay many times, that he felt the Saldana would not been lost had Fanad Head been lighted.
A larger and higher tower, and new buildings were constructed in the 1880s at Fanad Head lighthouse. The new tower was built close to the old tower. On 1 September 1886, a new light went into operation. Currently, the tower is 72 feet (22 m) high and stands 128 feet (39 m) above the water. Its day mark is a white tower and its light?s characteristic is 5 white and red flashes every 20 seconds. The white light has a nominal range of 18 nautical miles and the red 14 nautical miles.
One light still did not seem to be enough and two more lights were placed in the area in 1876. One was built on Dunree Head (navigational location 55o 11.9? N 7o 33.2? W) and the other on Buncrana Pier (navigational location 55o 7.6? N 7o 27.8? W). Buncrana Pier is a 17-foot (5 m) column with an isolating character of white and red every 4 seconds. It has a nominal range of 14 nautical miles in white and 11 nautical miles in red. Dunree Head has a 20-foot (6 m) tower attached to a house. It flashes 2 times white and red every 5 seconds. Its nominal range is 12 nautical miles in white and 9 miles in red.
Many historic events involving famous Irishman have happened in the area of the Fanad Peninsula. The best known is the Flight of the Earls. In September 1607, a French ship sailed from the northern harbour of Rathmullan in Lough Swilly. On board were Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, together with more than 90 of their family and followers. Both men were Ulster chiefs who fought against Elizabeth until their final submission in 1603. Although pardoned, they found the increasing English intervention an intolerable challenge to their traditional jurisdiction. Their ship was bound for Spain, but fierce storms forced them to disembark in France in early October. Thereafter, they made their way to Rome, where they remained in voluntary exile and where O'Neill died in 1616. Their flight left Ulster open to settlement by the Scots and English. Rathmullan Pier is also famous for being the place from which the English kidnapped the Irish leader Red Hugh O'Donnell and shipped him off to a Dublin jail after tricking him to come aboard their ship on peaceful terms in 1587.
Another famous Irishman, Theobald Wolfe Tone, was captured in the area. He was born in Dublin in 1763. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and in London. The young Tone often spent time in the public galleries of The Irish House of Commons. The liberal, tolerant Tone realised that the only real future for the people of Ireland was in the separation of the two countries. Tone's aims were ?To subvert the tyranny of our execrable Government, to break the connection with England, the never failing source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country, these were my objects. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of past dissentions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter; these were my means?.
Tone convinced France to help his cause. The first ships were turned back in Bantry Bay by a storm but a second force under General Humbert with 1,000 men landed in August 1798. After some initial successes, Humbert surrendered to superior English forces. A further expedition of 3,000 under Generals Bompard and Hardy set sail for Ireland with Tone himself on board. They approached Lough Swilly on the north coast near Fanad Head Peninsula where an English fleet waited. The French were outnumbered and outgunned. Knowing the fate that lay in store for Tone, the French put a boat at his disposal to escape but he declined with these words, ?Shall it be said that I fled while the French were fighting the battle of my country?? After a gallant battle, the French surrendered and Wolfe Tone was captured.
If you would like to visit the Fanad Head lighthouse, take the R245 north from Letterkenny until you come to the R246 to Portsalon. From Portsalon, you should travel north towards the head of the peninsula.
extracted from Irish Lighthouses by Sharma Krauskopf, published by Appletree Press.
Click here Irish Castles to buy the newly reformatted book from Amazon.co.uk. The previous edition of Irish Castles is also still available from Amazon.co.uk.
