A History of the Fastnet Lighthouse.
Author: MORRISSEY, James.
Dublin: Crannog Books, 2004. 106 pages. Illustrated. Quarto. Hardback.
“The Fastnet Lighthouse is one of the most exposed lighthouses in the world. It is also a truly exceptional feat of design, engineering and construction, the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Irish lighthouses. For one hundred years now, it has withstood everything the Atlantic can hurtle against it. Perched on a rock off the West Cork coast - An Charraig Aonair or ‘the lonely rock’, also known to emigrants as ‘the teardrop of Ireland’ - the Fastnet Lighthouse was designed by William Douglass, a man whose legacy is still evident in many locations around Ireland’s coastline. The first Fastnet lighthouse was a cast-iron tower built in the 1850s, which became structurally unsound as a result of storms and heavy seas rolling in off the Atlantic. The second, and current, lighthouse was completed in 1904, after four years of construction. On the night of 21st July that year, a team of inspectors from the Commissioners of Irish Lights set sail to see at first hand the new light and they concluded that it had ‘entirely fulfilled their expectations in every way’. The great revolving spokes of light, succeeding each other at intervals of five seconds, gave the most distinctive character possible … it was a most beautiful optical phenomenon’, wrote Sir Robert Ball, whose contemporary photographs capture the construction of this truly outstanding building. This book provides a detailed account, in words and pictures, of how this ‘architectural gem’ was built on one of the most hazardous sites in Europe and under the most perilous conditions. It also recounts lighthouse life from several perspectives. And it tells of the wonderful courage and spirit of those who have dedicated their lives to the protection of seafarers down the decades.”
ISBN: 0951282646
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