Blacksod Lighthouse (Gaelic: ''Fód Dubh'') is a

lighthouse 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 mar ...

at the southern end of the

Mullet Peninsula The Mullet Peninsula ( ga, Leithinis an Mhuirthead)—also known as the Mullet (''an Mhuirthead'') and sometimes as the Erris Peninsula—is a peninsula in the barony of Erris in County Mayo, Ireland. As of 2016 it has a population of 3963. I ...

Erris Erris is a barony in northwestern County Mayo in Ireland consisting of over , much of which is mountainous blanket bog. It has extensive sea coasts along its west and north boundaries. The main towns are Belmullet and Bangor Erris. The name Er ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

, at the entrance to

Blacksod Bay Blacksod Bay ( ga, Cuan an Fhóid Duibh) is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean in Erris, north County Mayo, Ireland. The long and wide bay is bounded on its western side by the Mullet Peninsula. Its eastern side includes Kiltane Parish, which ext ...

. It is made of local

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

blocks, which are believed to have come from Termon Hill, a nearby isolated outcrop of high quality granite. The keeper's house is a two-storey square building, which has always been unpainted. It is occupied by a resident lighthousekeeper who is also responsible for Blackrock Lighthouse. Blacksod is of unusual design for a lighthouse, being a square block of a building with only a small conical lantern section on top of it which is painted white.

History

Blacksod Lighthouse was built in 1864 by one of the leading merchants in

Belmullet Belmullet (, IPA: �bʲeːlənˠˈwʊɾˠhəd̪ˠ is a coastal Gaeltacht town with a population of 1,019 on the Mullet Peninsula in the barony of Erris, County Mayo, Ireland. It is the commercial and cultural heart of the barony of Erris, wh ...

at that time, Bryan Carey. Weather observations in June 1944 by the Blacksod lighthousekeepers caused the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

to be postponed. While remaining neutral during World War II, Ireland continued to supply weather reports to Britain under an agreement in place since

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

had been scheduled to commence on 5 June 1944, but a report from Ted Sweeney of the Sweeney family (Blacksod's lighthousekeepers) of approaching bad weather fronts caused Eisenhower to delay the invasion until 6 June 1944, when conditions were more favourable. The house at Blacksod was badly damaged in 1989 by a rogue wave. It was repaired and used by the Commissioners of Irish Lights and the Irish Coast Guard as a refueling station for helicopters. The lighthouse, which used to be family home, was later opened as a visitor centre and offers some guided tours.

Associated lighthouses

The keeper for Blacksod Lighthouse is also responsible for Blackrock Lighthouse at Blackrock Island. Located 12 miles west of Blacksod Bay, the lighthouse on Blackrock is automated and accessible only by helicopter. On 14 March 2017, four

Irish Coast Guard The Irish Coast Guard (IRCG; ga, Garda Cósta na hÉireann ) is part of the Department of Transport of Ireland. The primary roles of the Coast Guard include maritime safety and search and rescue. The ''Irish Marine Search and Rescue Region'' ( ...

personnel were killed in a crash off Blackrock Lighthouse when it was understood they were seeking to refuel at Blacksod lighthouse.

References

External links

Commissioners of Irish LightsBlacksod Lighthouse and Eagle Island lighthouse photos Blacksod, Blackrock and other lighthouse pictures
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1864 Lighthouses in the Republic of Ireland Lighthouses on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

History

Associated lighthouses

See also

References

External links