Bill Long travels to the Kish Lighthouse off the coast of Dublin, on the occasion of it’s 25th anniversary, and a few years before it became fully automated. Before the present lighthouse was installed in 1965, attempts had been made to build a lighthouse on the Kish sand bank but the harsh weather conditions caused this idea to be abandoned.
Instead, in 1811, a lightship was moored there with three lights arranged in a triangle and during fog, a gong was beaten by its crew. Since then, the Kish has been permanently manned.
Bill learns of the history of the light vessels and lighthouses over the centuries with contributions from Morgan McStay, Desmond Martin, Brian Maguire, Charlie O’Shea, Liam Crean, Jack Roche, John De Courcy and Michael Taylor.
Presented by Bill Long
Produced by Michael Johnston
First Broadcast 10th December 1990
RTÉ Radio 1 Extra Friday 11October at 5pm