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Inishmore Lighthouse
The Inishmore or Dún Árann Lighthouse, is a decommissioned lighthouse located on the highest point of Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands in County Galway, Ireland. It was the first of a series of lighthouses that were built in the 19th century on the Aran Islands, but it was poorly positioned and was eventually replaced by the Inisheer Lighthouse and the Eeragh Lighthouse. Its deactivation also resulted in the construction of another Straw Island Lighthouse, lighthouse on Straw Island. History Inishmore was the first lighthouse built on the Aran Islands and was completed in 1818 in the centre of the island near Dun Oghil. Located on a hill 122m above sea level, it was designed to guide shipping past the island chain, but it became apparent that it was poorly positioned. Firstly, because it could not be seen at the hazardous ends of the Aran Islands chain, where the North and South Sound approaches were located, and secondly, its location on the highest point of the isl ...
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Aran Islands
The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the historic barony (Ireland), barony of Aran in County Galway. From west to east, the islands are: Inishmore (''Árainn'' / ''Inis Mór''), which is the largest; Inishmaan (''Inis Meáin''), the second-largest; and Inisheer (''Inis Oírr''), the smallest. There are also several islets. The population of 1,226 (as of 2016) primarily speak Irish language, Irish, the language of local placenames, making the islands a part of the Gaeltacht. Most islanders are also fluent or proficient in Hiberno-English, English. The population has steadily declined from around 3,500 in 1841. Location and access The approaches to the bay between the Aran Islands and the mainland are: * North Sound''An Súnda ó Thuaidh'' (more accurately ''Bealach Locha Lurgan'') l ...
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Alan Stevenson
Alan Stevenson FRSE LLD MInstCE (28 April 1807 – 23 December 1865) was a Scottish civil engineer, known for designing and building lighthouses in and around Scotland. Life Alan Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on 28 April 1807, the eldest son of Jean Smith and her husband (and step-brother) Robert Stevenson. With his father, and brothers David and Thomas, he was part of the notable family of Engineers and lighthouse builders. The writer Robert Louis Stevenson was his nephew. He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh. In 1821, he attended the University of Edinburgh to study Latin, Greek and mathematics with a view to becoming a member of the clergy. However, 2 years later in 1823, he decided to pursue a career in engineering and began a four-year apprenticeship at his father's business. Between 1843 and 1853 he built 13 lighthouses in and around Scotland. Among his notable works is the Skerryvore Lighthouse. He was Engineer in Chief to the Northern Lighthouse Boar ...
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Lighthouses Completed In 1818
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, rocks, and safe entries to harbors; they also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and has become uneconomical since the advent of much cheaper, more sophisticated and effective electronic navigational systems. History Ancient lighthouses Before the development of clearly defined ports, mariners were guided by fires built on hilltops. Since elevating the fire would improve the visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of the lighthouse. In antiquity, the lighthouse functioned more as an entrance marker to ports than as a warning signal for reefs a ...
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Commissioners Of Irish Lights
The Commissioners of Irish Lights ( ga, Coimisinéirí Soilse na hÉireann), often shortened to Irish Lights or CIL, is the body that serves as the general lighthouse authority for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and their adjacent seas and islands. As the lighthouse authority for the island of Ireland it oversees the coastal lights and navigation marks provided by the local lighthouse authorities, the county councils and port authorities. It is funded by light dues paid by ships calling at ports in the Republic of Ireland, pooled with dues raised similarly in the United Kingdom. This recognizes that a large volume of shipping, typically transatlantic, relies on the lights provided by Irish Lights. History Signal fires to guide shipping have long existed. Hook Head has the oldest nearly continuous light in Ireland, originally a signal fire or beacon tended by the monk Dubhán in the fifth century. Monks continued to maintain the light until the Cromwellian co ...
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List Of Lighthouses In Ireland
This is a list of lighthouses in Ireland. The Commissioners of Irish Lights are responsible for the majority of marine navigation aids around the island though a small number are maintained by local harbour authorities. The main list identifies those lighthouses in a clockwise direction starting with Crookhaven, Crookhaven lighthouse, County Cork. Maintained by Commissioners of Irish Lights Maintained by other Irish marine authorities A smaller number of active lighthouses are operated by other authorities, primarily the port and harbour companies located around the Geography of Ireland, Irish coast. Inactive Improvements and changes to the aids to navigation around the Irish coast, has meant that there are a number of lighthouses that have been decommissioned. This list includes those where the tower or structure is still in existence. Some of these have been reused, such as Ferris Point which is now a vessel control tower. Clare Island was turned into a guest house ...
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Ring Fort
Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wales and in Cornwall, where they are called rounds. Ringforts come in many sizes and may be made of stone or earth. Earthen ringforts would have been marked by a circular rampart (a bank and ditch), often with a stakewall. Both stone and earthen ringforts would generally have had at least one building inside. Distribution Ireland In Irish language sources they are known by a number of names: ' (anglicised ''rath'', also Welsh ''rath''), ' (anglicised ''lis''; cognate with Cornish '), ' (anglicised ''cashel''), ' (anglicised ''caher'' or ''cahir''; cognate with Welsh ', Cornish and Breton ') and ' (anglicised ''dun'' or ''doon''; cognate with Welsh and Cornish ').Edwards, Nancy. ''The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland''. Routledge, 20 ...
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Napoleonic Era
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory. The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon Bonaparte's ''coup d'état'', overthrowing the Directory (9 November 1799), establishing the French Consulate, and ends during the Hundred Days and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815). The Congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days. Napoleon brought political stability to a land torn by revolution and war. He made peace with the Roman Catholic Church and reversed the most radical religious policies of the Convention. In 1804 Napoleon promulgated the Civil Code, a revised body of civil law, which also helped stabilize French society. The Civil Code affirmed the political and legal equality of all ...
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National Inventory Of Architectural Heritage
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) maintains a central database of the architectural heritage of the Republic of Ireland covering the period since 1700 in complement to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, which focuses on archaeological sites of the pre-1700 period. As of 2022, there are over 50,000 records in the database, including buildings, monuments, street furniture and other structures. It does not cover Northern Ireland. Buildings recorded in the database are given a rating, either national or regional. Formation The NIAH is a unit of the Heritage Division within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The unit was founded in 1990 to address the obligations of the Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe of which Ireland is signatory. Initially, the NIAH existed only on a non-statutory basis with the task to create and maintain an inventory of to be protected buildings and sites. The legal framework for ...
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Dun Eochla 2
A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse. Etymology The term comes from Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), and is cognate with Old Welsh ''din'' (whence Welsh ''dinas'' "city" comes). In certain instances, place-names containing ''Dun-'' or similar in Northern England and Southern Scotland, may be derived from a Brittonic cognate of the Welsh form ''din''. In this region, substitution of the Brittonic form by the Gaelic equivalent may have been widespread in toponyms. The Dacian dava (hill fort) is probably etymologically cognate. Details In some areas duns were built on any suitable crag or hillock, particularly south of the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. There are many duns on the west coast of Ireland and they feature in Irish mythology. For example, the tale of the '' Táin Bó Flidhais'' features Dún Chiortáin and Dún Chaochá ...
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Clare Island
Clare Island ( or ''Oileán Chliara''), also historically Inishcleer, is a mountainous island guarding the entrance to Clew Bay in County Mayo, Ireland. Historically part of the kingdom of Umhaill, it is famous as the home of the 15th century pirate queen Gráinne O'Malley. The current population of the island is roughly 160. To the south-west lies Inishturk (inhabited) and Caher Island (uninhabited), and to the north is Achill Island. History Through the Middle Ages, Clare Island was part of the lands of the O'Malley family. The ruins of an O'Malley tower-house, known as Granuaile's Castle because of its most famous resident, are close to the pier at the eastern edge of the island. Clare Island Abbey near the south coast of the island was founded by the O'Malleys and contains the O'Malley Tomb, a possible burial site of Gráinne O'Malley. The Abbey is known for its rare medieval roof paintings. In 1588, a ship from the Spanish Armada was wrecked on Clare Island and its me ...
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Inishmore
Inishmore ( ga, Árainn , or ) is the largest of the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. With an area of and a population of 762 (as of 2016), it is the second-largest island off the Irish coast (after Achill) and most populous of the Aran Islands. The island is in the Irish-speaking Gaeltacht and has a strong Irish culture. Much of the island is karst landscape and it has a wealth of ancient and medieval sites including Dún Aonghasa, described as "the most magnificent barbaric monument in Europe" by George Petrie. Name Before the 20th century, the island was usually called ''Árainn'' or ''Árainn Mhór'', which is thought to mean "kidney-shaped" or "ridge". It was anglicized as 'Aran', 'Aran More' or 'Great Aran'. This has caused some confusion with Arranmore, County Donegal, which has the same Irish name. The name 'Inishmore' was "apparently concocted by the Ordnance Survey for its map of 1839" as an anglicization of ''Inis Mór'' ("big island ...
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Loop Head
Loop Head (), is a headland on the north side of the mouth of the River Shannon, in County Clare in the west of Ireland. Loop Head is marked by a prominent lighthouse. The opposite headland on the south side of the Shannon is Kerry Head. The Shannon Foynes Port Company controls navigation in the Shannon estuary and river. Loop Head peninsula, has the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Shannon Estuary on the other, with barely a mile of land saving it from island status. In 2010, the Loop Head peninsula was awarded a European Destinations of Excellence Award, which is an EU accolade for emerging tourism destinations which are developing in a responsible and sustainable manner. In 2013, Loop Head was named the "Best Place to Holiday in Ireland" by ''The Irish Times'', and was shortlisted in the Best Destination category at the World Responsible Tourism awards. The Loop Head Peninsula is the only Irish destination listed in the 2014 Global Sustainable Top 100 Destinations and in 2 ...
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