Lighthouse, fog signal buildings and structures

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A mid-19th C six-storey lighthouse tower, base lantern, associated boundary walls, and early 20C single-storey/ two-bay explosives store, rocket house and gun platfrom.

1. Lighthouse

A freestanding tapered tower surmounted by a metal lantern. The tower is of uncoursed and randomly-sized stone blocks faced to the curvature of the tower and resting on a slightly advanced base course. It is painted white as up to the cill of the third floor and black above. There is a recessed painted timber entrance door at S, with metal security grille in front. All windows are 2x2-paned timber (with vents across their tops); the cills are painted (probably granite). Apart from the external door and an internal one into the adjoining base lantern, there are no other GF openings. Each floor above has two opposite windows, each pair being offset by 90 degrees from the ones above and below.

Around the top of the tower is a projecting dressed stone gallery supported on dressed granite brackets. The gallery encloses a 16-sided iron-framed lantern with a hemispherical metal roof with three rows of external handrails, bulbous ventilator, finial lightning conductor, and narrow metal gutter. Four diagonal metal struts anchor the lantern to the gallery. There are three rows of windows around the lantern; two cants (at W) are blanked off with over-painting.

Roof: Metal.
Rainwater goods: Metal.
Walls: Dressed stone.
Windows: 2x2 timber.

2. Base lantern

At the base of the E side of the tower is a second lantern atop a circular granite platform enclosed by a painted cast-iron balustrade. Except for the over-painting of its windows, it is identical to the one on the adjacent tower.

The top two of its three rows of windows are over-painted white, as are four windows on the bottom row nearest the tower. The makers' name 'I & R Mallet Dublin' is embossed on three of the cants below the windows.

A short corridor links this lantern with the GF of the tower. It has a flat roof (with two small skylights) and painted/rendered walls.

3. Boundary walls

The lighthouse premises are bounded by a c.1.5-2m high random rubble wall. At its SW corner is the entrance, comprising a pair of square dressed stone piers hung with replacement galvanised steel gates emblazoned with 'CIL' along their tops. From the gates, an unmetalled track leads up to the entrance into the single-storey keeper's house compound. An original rubble masonry wall partially survives along the W side of the track.

On the inside face of the boundary wall SW of the two-storey houses are vestiges of a long-demolished lean-to.

4. Explosives Store

An early 20C single-storey/ two-bay disused explosives store aligned E-W at the N end of the lighthouse premises.
Vaulted brick roof covered with white-painted tarred felt but no RWG. White-painted brick walls with advanced tarred and rendered base course. No openings to N, E and S elevations except for dogleg ventilation holes around the base. The W end is abutted by a slightly narrower entrance porch.

The porch has a flagged stone roof edged with an advanced course of brick and embellished with a small brick pediment. The walls are of tarred brick. Doorway to S elevation (door missing). W elevation has an over-painted 2x3 fixed timber window with protective wooden grille and concrete cill. No openings to N elevation.

Roof: Brick.
Rainwater goods: None.
Walls: Brick.
Windows: Timber casement.

5. Rocket House

A disused single-storey/ three-bay former Rocket House aligned E-W c.10m north of the explosives store. Both end bays are narrower than the middle one.

Flat oversailing concrete roof with low square upstands at NE and NW which supported the ends of two metal jibs from which rockets were launched; one jib was a standby but both are long removed. Painted rendered walls (fabric uncertain). All windows have been replaced with uPVC top-opening casements.

The S elevation has painted double-leaf wooden shutters at left (bay 1) with steel security grille to front and shallow concrete cill. To its right is a window (bay 2).

The W end is blank.

The N elevation is built tight against the perimeter wall around the premises. It has a t&g door at centre (bay 2), and two small casements to left (bay 3), both with shallow concrete cills.

Roof: Concrete.
Rainwater goods: None.
Walls: Uncertain.
Windows: uPVC casements.

6. Gun Platform

10m east of the explosives store is the substantial concrete base of a former gun emplacement. It measures c.7m N-S x 4.5m E-W. Inset into its floor are three wooden platforms which presumably marks the positions of three guns. The structure probably originally had a timber or corrugated roof and walls (but open to the seaward E side), no traces of which survive.

Setting

The lighthouse,base lantern and associated structures are part of a more extensive complex encompassing a single-storey keeper's house at SW (HB05/16/010B), a pair of later semi-detached keepers' houses at S (HB05/16/010C and D), and fog signal buildings at SE. A concrete footpath connects the lighthouse with these other buildings. The premises are strategically located on an exposed rocky headland just east of Altacorry, at the NE corner of the island, and commands wide views across the North Channel to Islay and the Mull of Kintyre.

The premises are accessed from the public road along a 660m long unsurfaced track. At the start of this laneway is another entrance gate (grid D15588 51689). It comprises two circular random rubble gate piers with conical tops and between which is a galvanised steel gate. This entrance was rebuilt in the 1970s.

Just outside the lighthouse grounds, in the plot immediately S of the two-storey houses, are three concrete blocks set into the ground. (HB05/16/010E) They appear to have been anchor stays for a mast erected by Lloyds of London, the shipping insurers. The mast was associated with a watch house from which transatlantic shipping was observed. This intelligence was then wirelessly communicated to Lloyd's London headquarters.

Block 1 is 13m S of the gated entrance to the lighthouse grounds (at grid D16167 51928), block 2 is 24m beyond that (D16178 51906), and block 3 a further 35m on (D16199 51878). All are c.60cm x 60cm in plan and originally had 'LLOYDS' cast into their tops. All are now weathered to such an extent that only 'LOY' is readable on block 1 and 'LLOYD' on block 2; block 3 is indecipherable.

Historical information

This lighthouse and adjoining base lantern are part of the East Light complex which was designed by George Halpin Senior, Inspector of Works and Lighthouses from 1810 until his death in 1854. Work began in May 1849 and their lights were first exhibited on 1 November 1856. Halpin was also responsible for many of Ireland's lighthouses, including Haulbowline and St John's Point (Co Down). The lanterns were manufactured by John and Robert Mallet of Dublin (the lantern marks read 'I & R', but the I is probably a rusted and over-painted J).

The tower is shown on the 1856 OS map; presumably the base lantern was not yet in place at the time of survey).

The 1859 Valuation records the tower as 60ft high and as 65ft in the c.1935 Valuation. According to Irish Lights, it is 88ft to the top of the lantern. The tower light is 243ft above mean spring water level and originally had a 50-second bright/ 10-sec dark flashing character. It also displayed a red sector over Carrick-a-vaan Rock, off Kenbane Head on the mainland. The base lantern is 182ft above sea level and had a fixed light. A second light is uncommon but was used in this instance to distinguish the station from others around this part of the North Channel. The paintwork on the tower was also a distinguishing feature. Originally it was a red band-over-unpainted stone, then red-over-white, and from 1933 or '34 black-over-white. The lower light was discontinued on 1 July 1894 and the upper one intensified at the same time.

One 6 July 1898, George Kemp and Edward Glanville, assistants to the Guglielmo Marconi, demonstrated the latter's invention of wireless telegraphy to officials from Lloyds of London, the shipping insurers. A Morse signal was successfully transmitted wirelessly from an aerial strung from the tower and picked up by a receiving mast in Ballycastle. Lloyds subsequently built a signal station (watch house and mast) on a plot beside the lighthouse. (HB05/16/010E).

The 1904 OS map shows the base lantern as well as the tower. It captions the lighthouse as "white and red occulting" (i.e. shining for a longer period than it was cut off). The adjoining Lloyd's Signal Station is also explicitly captioned.

(See below history and
references for Fog Singalling Buildings C 1904)

The present 920mm catadioptic annular lens in the top lantern was installed in 1912, along with a vaporised paraffin burner for illumination. It was probably then that its signature was changed to its present flashing character, i.e. dark for a longer period than shining. The 1922 OS map captions it as "White group flashing light". The red sector component of the flash (i.e. towards Kinbane) was discontinued in 1938.

The illuminant was changed from a vaporised paraffin burner to an electric bulb on 1st October 1981.

The lighthouse was automated on 28 March 1995 and since November of that year flashes day and night - four white bursts every 20 seconds. It currently has a range of 26 nautical miles (30 miles).

A radar beacon ('racon') also came into operation on 1 March 1995. This electronic device is triggered by a ship's radar and returns a signal. Using racons elsewhere, a ship could thus determine its exact position irrespective of visibility. This and other electronic equipment is now monitored from Irish Lights' Dun Laoghaire headquarters.

Since being demanned in 1995, the East Light has been looked after by a part-time attendant on behalf of Irish Lights.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/1/2. Second edition OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 1 (1856).
2. PRONI VAL/2/B/1/29. Second valuation book, p.21 (1859).
3. PRONI OS/10/1/1/4/1. First edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 1-04 (1904).
4. National Museum Northern Ireland photographic archive BELUM.Y.W.01.83.7. Photograph of lighthouse complex from SW by R.J. Welch. Date unknown but probably c.1900.
5. PRONI OS/10/1/1/4/2. Second edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 1-04 (1922).
6. PRONI VAL/3/D/1/3/N/1. Valuation revision notebook, Ballycarry td entry 12 (c.1935).
7. PRONI OS/11/3/3/1. First edition OS Irish-Grid 1:10,000 map sheet 3 (1971).

References - Secondary sources:
1. Mr Noel McCurdy, Irish Lights East Light Attendant.
2. Technical panel in lighthouse.
3. Forsythe, W. And McConkey, R. 2012. Rathlin Island: An Archaeological Survey of a Maritime Landscape pp 305-306 and 418. Belfast, NIEA.
4. Bill Long, 1997. Bright Light, White Water: the Lighthouses of Ireland. Dublin, New Island Books, pp 179-180.
5. Irish Lights website, and .
6. On-line Dictionary of Irish Architects, 1720-1940, for details of G Halpin Snr and J & R Mallet ().
7. Marconi Radio Group website, < www.freewebs.com/mn0mrg/>.

Fog Singalling Buildings

No buildings or structures are shown in the area now containing the rocket house and store on the 1859 OS map apart from a sun dial. In January 1866, a fog signal comprising an 18lb canon was established at the lighthouse. It was originally fired every 20 minutes to give an audible warning during foggy conditions, but this interval was subsequently decreased to 15 minutes and then eight.

Two uncaptioned buildings and the gun platform are depicted on the 1904 and 1922 OS maps. The c.1935 Valuation book entry describes the tonite store as a small brick magazine, and the rocket house as a small rubble masonry firing shelter.

In 1918, the canon was replaced by a more powerful audible signal comprising two tonite explosions every five minutes. The tonite (a nitro-based high explosive) was stored in the magazine and the detonators in the S annex of the single-storey keeper's house.
The two small piers on the Rocket House roof supported the ends of two metal jibs (one a standby). A charge and detonator were placed on the end of the jib. It was then winched up and the detonator set off electrically. It is likely that the present reinforced-concrete roof was constructed at this time. Whether the rest of the building was also rebuilt is uncertain (detailed investigation of its wall fabric is necessary to determine whether it is of stone or concrete).

From September 1965 onwards, the audible fog signal was accompanied by a brilliant flash of light.

In 1972, the use of explosives was superseded by a radio signal for security reasons. Thereafter the explosives store was used for more mundane purposes such as the storage of gas cylinders.

In the 1980s, the W bay of the rocket house (GF1) was used to house a fuel tank which supplied a standby electricity generator in the base lantern beside the lighthouse. In the 1990s, the rest of the building was internally refurbished as a mess room and toilet for maintenance crews. However, with the refurbishment of the single-storey keeper's house in the mid-2000s to accommodate such crews, the rocket house was abandoned.

References - Primary Sources:
1. PRONI OS/6/1/1/2. Second edition OS 1:10,560 map, Co Antrim sheet 1 (1856).
2. PRONI OS/10/1/1/4/1. First edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 1-04 (1904).
3. PRONI OS/10/1/1/4/2. Second edition OS 1:2500 map, Co Antrim sheet 1-04 (1922).
4. PRONI VAL/3/D/1/3/N/1. Valuation revision notebook, Ballycarry td entry 12 (c.1935).
5. PRONI OS/11/3/3/1. First edition OS Irish-Grid 1:10,000 map sheet 3 (1971).

References - Secondary sources:
1. Mr Noel McCurdy, Irish Lights East Light Attendant.
2. Forsythe, W. And McConkey, R. 2012. Rathlin Island: An Archaeological Survey of a Maritime Landscape pp 305-306 and 418. Belfast, NIEA.
3. Irish Lights website, and .

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
E. Spatial Organisation
F. Structural System
G. Innovatory Qualities
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

T. Historic Importance
V. Authorship
R. Age
S. Authenticity
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

This slightly tapered tower is carefully built of dressed stone blocks, into the inside faces of which the floors and staircases are keyed. Its vertical floor arrangement is typical of all lighthouses, each room originally having a different function and all linked by cantilevered spiral staircases. The windows on each floor are also deliberately offset to minimise the risk of vertical cracks developing in the walls. The canted cast-iron construction and continuous fenestration to the two lanterns is also typical of lighthouses.

The lighthouse's original setting also survives - the perimeter wall and entrance piers. It also has group value with the buildings and structures therein - the single-storey keeper's house (HB05/16/010B), semi-detached keepers' houses (HB05/16/010C and D), and the nearby remaining signalling blocks (HB05/16/010E). Further group value is generated by its association with Rathlin's later West Light (HB05/16/016) and South Light (HB05/16/022).

Although this is one of three lighthouses on the island, it is the earliest by over 60 years. Moreover, whilst one of eight such towers still in use around the coast of Northern Ireland, it is unique in originally having had two lanterns to improve its visibility in foggy conditions, and was designed by George Halpin Senior, who also designed lighthouses at Haulbowline (HB16/04/009) and St John's Point (Co Down)(HB18/10/048).

The tower's fabric is entirely authentic and is a fine example of the work of George Halpin Snr. The two lanterns are likewise authentic and at least one of them bears its makers' name (J & R Mallet). The lighthouse was, and still is, of economic importance in terms of maritime travel and trade.

In short, the East Light is of architectural and historical significance in the context of Northern Ireland.