Great Lighthouses of Ireland tells the story of Ireland’s lighthouses and their continuing importance to the country’s survival. For all their romance and mystery, lighthouses remain a vital part of Ireland’s maritime infrastructure.
This brand new RTÉ One new four part series explains our dependence on the sea, our battle with the elements, and the engineering, history, science and above all the people, behind these extraordinary buildings, and the pivotal role they have played in historic events.
Episode one:
Ireland’s lighthouses are vital to the nation’s survival. As an island nation, almost everything we consume from food, to electronics, fuel and vehicles arrive by sea. Lighthouses aid the safe passage of ships around our dangerous coastal waters.
The story begins at Hook Head, a treacherous peninsula known locally as “The graveyard of a thousand ships”. Hook Head is home to a 800-year-old lighthouse: the oldest working lighthouse in the world.
When Ireland’s lighthouses were automated, the role of lighthouse keeper was consigned to history. This dwindling group of unsung veterans will be the last Irish lighthouse keepers to tell their extraordinary stories. We learn about the gruelling challenges they endured: isolation, danger, hazards, long periods of separation from their wives and children, and a formidable yearly inspection by the Commissioners.
Eagle Island is notorious for its lethal weather conditions. Despite being over 220 feet above sea level the lighthouse tower is prey to mountainous waves which crash over it with full force. A letter written by the daughter of a lighthouse keeper describes the full horror of a hurricane which struck Eagle Island in 1894, breaking and extinguishing the light.
Miraculously, the keepers and their families survived. But in 1986, history repeated itself when a vicious storm hit the island, knocking over a radio beacon mast and hurling capping stones weighing nearly a tonne each. Former keeper Gerry Sweeney was stationed on Eagle Island on the night of this storm. Gerry takes a poignant trip back to the Island where the devastation is still visible.
Great Lighthouses of Ireland is a Lighthouse Films production for RTÉ with funding from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, produced in association with Inproduction TV and Telegael.
Great Lighthouses of Ireland starts on Sunday, 30th September at 6.30pm on RTÉ One