Watch Great Lighthouses of Ireland Online Season 1 Episode 1

S01 E012018-09-30

A Nation SurroundedIreland’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.

S01 E022018-10-07

Feats of EngineeringIn the second episode, we discover how Ireland became a world leader in lighthouse engineering. Often working in hostile and treacherous natural locations, Ireland’s lighthouse engineers and builders used great ingenuity to achieve what seemed impossible. Tuskar Rock off the coast of Co. Wexford is a perilous reef thought to have caused more shipwrecks than any other marine hazard around the Irish coast. Designed by 19th century engineer George Halpin, who was considered the “Founding father” of the Irish lighthouse service, the lighthouse at Tuskar is still in operation 200 years after it was built. In 1881 the towering waves of the Atlantic snapped the Calf Rock lighthouse tower off its cast iron base. Amazingly, none of the lighthouse keepers were killed but the disaster prompted engineers to build a lighthouse on the nearby Bull Rock instead. With a summit 305 feet above sea level, and sheer, jagged sides, the Bull Rock is perhaps one of the most inaccessible places in Ireland. Former Fastnet lighthouse keepers recount their experiences of living and working inside the tower, which despite being 160 ft high can be covered by terrifying waves. The tower is made from 2074 hand carved granite blocks, designed with millimetre precision to lock together and withstand some of the most violent seas the Atlantic can conjure. The Kish lighthouse is a masterpiece of 20th century engineering: a telescopic design rising to over 100 feet, and built to sit on a sandbank.

S01 E032018-10-14

Witnesses to HistoryIn the third episode of this four part series we discover the surprising roles that lighthouse keepers played in both World Wars. As the First World War raged around Ireland’s coast, our lighthouse keepers acted as unofficial coastguards, keeping detailed logs of their observations. From sightings of German submarines, to the horror of ships being torpedoed and attacked by other vessels, and even saving shipwrecked sailors, our lighthouse keepers were on the spot witnesses. In the Second World War an Irish lighthouse keeper played a decisive role in the outcome. We travel to Blacksod Bay, Co. Mayo where in 1944 lighthouse keeper Ted Sweeney took a weather reading which was to determine the entire timing of the allied invasion on D Day. Ted Sweeney’s weather observations persuaded General Eisenhower to delay the Normandy landings by 24 hours which proved to be crucial to their success. Ted’s son Gerry, also a former lighthouse keeper, tells us the story, and Evelyn Cusack from Met Eireann shows us the original handwritten weather observations collected by Ted Sweeney. RTÉ’s Sea Area Forecast is broadcast three times a day and offers potentially life saving information to mariners. Evelyn Cusack explains how lighthouses and buoys are central to the gathering of this information. One of the most dangerous jobs on the sea was that of the lightship man. Anchored in position in exposed locations, there was no escape from tempestuous seas for the lightship crews. In 1936 the Daunt Rock lightship was struck by a hurricane and broke free, prompting the Ballycotton lifeboat, the Mary Stanford, to launch a terrifying rescue operation, which involved being at sea for 49 hours. Against all odds and due to the sheer bravery of the Mary Stanford Crew, the Daunt lightship men were all rescued. A dramatic moment in lighthouse history occurred with the introduction of the helicopter. Eliminating the need for lighthouse keepers to be winched precariously on and off rocks, and ensuring they could return home without getting stuck in bad weather, the helicopter revolutionised life for the keepers.

S01 E042018-10-21

A Bright FutureIn the last episode of the series, former lighthouse keeper Richard Foran makes a poignant return trip to the Skelligs lighthouse which was his final posting before the lighthouse was automated. Having worked for Irish Lights for fifty-two years in total, Richard reflects on his time at the Skelligs. Automation was truly the end of an era for lighthouse keepers – keepers were no longer required and centuries of tradition ended. But automation did not mean the end for lighthouses completely. We visit Irish Lights HQ in Dun Laoghaire from where all the aids to navigation around the Irish coast are controlled. Many of Ireland’s historic lighthouses are now popular tourist attractions, while still providing the vital service for which they were designed. The Hook Lighthouse in Co Wexford attracts 250,000 visitors a year, and it’s possible to stay at Fanad Head and Galley Head, both working lighthouses. Artist Roger O’Reilly creates stunning contemporary art work of Ireland’s lighthouses in his Kilkenny studio. Roger describes the childhood experiences at lighthouses in Drogheda that sparked his fascination and this acclaimed body of work. From its inception, Irish Lights has been at the forefront of modern technology – from advances in lighthouse lighting systems, to sophisticated super-buoys that tweet information to mariners. Irish Lights also has its own ship, the Granuaile, designed to carry out maintenance work in the most dangerous parts of the sea. The series ends by asking what the future holds for lighthouses in an age of electronic and GPS navigation: fortunately, the future is bright.

Watch Great Lighthouses of Ireland Season 1 Episode 1 Online

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