Poolbeg Lighthouse is an active

aid to navigation In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

at the mouth of the

River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River ...

, near

Poolbeg Poolbeg () is an artificial peninsula extending from Ringsend, Dublin, into Dublin Bay. History The Poolbeg peninsula was built between the mid 18th century and the present day, starting with the Ballast Office Wall, the first section of the ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland. First established in 1767, it initially operated on candlepower but this was changed to oil in 1786. It was re-designed and re-built into its present form in 1820.

Location

The

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 ...

, one of a formation of three, is located on the

Great South Wall The Great South Wall ( ga, Balla an Bhulla Theas) (also sometimes called the South Bull Wall), at the Port of Dublin, extends from the tip of the Poolbeg peninsula more than four kilometres out into Dublin Bay. It was the world's longest sea wa ...

(South Bull Wall), at the Port of Dublin, which extends from

Ringsend Ringsend () is a Southside (Dublin), southside inner suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the sou ...

's Poolbeg peninsula nearly four miles out into

Dublin Bay Dublin Bay ( ga, Cuan Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea on the east coast of Ireland. The bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north–south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of Dub ...

. The wall was the world's longest at the time of its building, and remains one of the longest

sea-wall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

s in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. One of the other two lighthouses is located on the Bull Wall opposite, and the other on a wooden platform mid-channel. The Poolbeg Lighthouse is a handsome and conspicuous feature in the bay, in which it occupies an almost central position. It is nearly equidistant from

Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...

, and

Howth Howth ( ; ; non, Hǫfuð) is an affluent peninsular village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district as a whole occupies the greater part of the peninsula of Howth Head, which forms the northern boundary of Dublin Bay, and includes ...

, and commands extensive views of the shores of the bay, with an unbroken panorama of the mountains on the south. Howth with its heather-clad hills, bright green fields and rugged reaches of sea cliff, is very visible from this point.

Original building

HMS Dorset royal yacht at the disposal of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1787 2007BM5219 2500

The

when originally constructed, presented an entirely different appearance from what it does at the present time. It was not as high as the existing structure, it sloped much more rapidly towards the top, and was surmounted by an octagonal lantern with eight heavy glass windows. A stone staircase with an iron balustrade led to the second storey, where an iron gallery surrounded the whole building. The alteration to the present form was made in the early part of the nineteenth century.

Management

The lighthouse, automated for many years, is managed by

Dublin Port Company Dublin Port Company (Irish: ''Comhlacht Chalafort Átha Cliath''), formerly called the Dublin Port and Docks Board, is a self-financing semi-state company whose business is to manage Dublin Port Dublin Port ( ga, Calafort Átha Cliath) i ...

, whereas most lighthouses in Ireland are managed by the

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 adjacen ...

, today part of a larger cross-border body.

Standard height measurement for Ordnance Survey Ireland

Historically, the Ordnance Survey Ireland used the low water mark of the spring tide on 8 April 1837 at the Poolbeg Lighthouse as a standard height for all its maps, a practice which continued up until 1958.

Colouring

Poolbeg Lighthouse, Great South Wall, Dublin

The Poolbeg Lighthouse is painted red. The green lighthouse on the opposite side of the channel is the North Bull lighthouse, a couple of metres off the end of the North Bull Wall, and another green lighthouse the

North Bank Lighthouse The North Bank or Northbank Lighthouse, is an active aid to navigation located at the mouth of the River Liffey, near Dublin, Ireland. It is one of four lighthouses that help guide shipping into the Liffey, and the Port of Dublin, all of which ...

is also located next to the shipping channel into Dublin. As with all navigational aids marking a channel, the port side as one heads upstream is indicated by red markers whilst the right hand side or starboard of the channel is green.

Incidents

In 2016, a 48-year-old man drowned in the sea near the lighthouse while playing the augmented-reality video game ''Ingress'', having possibly tripped on a raised water grate at the edge of the pier. The grates have since been removed.

References

External links

Commissioners of Irish Lights
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1768 Towers completed in 1768 Lighthouses completed in 1820 Lighthouses in the Republic of Ireland Dublin Bay 1768 establishments in Ireland