Lighthouses

 

A very simple and uncontroversial post to the relief I’m sure of millions. My family going back a generation or two on my mother’s side and her mother’s side were lighthouse keepers around the coast of Ireland, and one memento of that period is this humble fork, whose initials C.I.L. signify Commissioner of Irish Lights which oversees the running of the lighthouses. Lighthouse keepers would only serve a certain duration in each lighthouse, even if living there with a full family, before being posted to another. Probably the most famous one where a grand uncle and uncle of mine served is The Fastnet Rock below, situated off the coast of West Cork.

And to show it could get pretty wild and scary, with the genuine sense of threat of it even being demolished by the force of the waves, and with obviously nowhere to run!

Another place served, amongst plenty others, was the Bull Rock, in the Beara Peninsula, also in County Cork. At such postings the family would live nearby on the coast whilst the lighthouse keeper would serve his spell on the island. Imagine the feat of building these structures on such pieces of landscape, getting the rocks and materials out there, and of course often with pretty unfriendly weather.