Tuskar Rock () is a group of rocks topped by 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 m ...

off the southeast coast of

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí C ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. The rocks have probably destroyed more ships than any other Irish coastal feature. One hundred and seventy-six wrecks are listed for the Tuskar Rock area at ''Irish Wrecks Online''. The Tuskar Rock lighthouse, built from granite and standing tall, was built over a period of years beginning in

1812 Events January–March * January 1 – The ''Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (the Austrian civil code) enters into force in the Austrian Empire. * January 19 – Peninsular War: The French-held fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo is st ...

. In October of that year, a storm struck, washing away temporary barracks that had been erected on the island, and killing fourteen workmen—the worst such disaster in Ireland's history of lighthouse construction.Krauskopf, Sharma (2001) ''Irish Lighthouses''; p.15. The surviving workers clung to the island's slippery rocks for two full days before being discovered and rescued. Work resumed, and the lighthouse was completed, entering into operation on 4 June

1815 Events January * January 2 – Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke in Seaham, county of Durham, England. * January 3 – Austria, Britain, and Bourbon-restored France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Pru ...

. The Tuskar Rock air disaster occurred near the rock on 24 March 1968 when

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish , meaning "air fleet" compare Welsh 'llynges awyr') is the flag carrier of Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiar ...

flight 712, en route from Cork to London, crashed into the sea with the loss of all 61 people on board. The name Tuskar rock has no foundation in the Irish language but actually came from the Vikings. It is one of many Viking place names found in the south of Wexford and means simply large (tu) rock (skar) in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

.Billy Colfer (2004) ''The Hook Peninsula: County Wexford '
p30
Cork University Press Tuskar lighthouse is mentioned in John Masefield's ballad ''The Yarn of the Loch Achray'' as the place where the clipper ''Loch Achray'' dropped her tug, before sailing to the South Atlantic where she was wrecked off the River Plate.

Demographics

References

{{Authority control , additional=Q28791812 Lighthouses in the Republic of Ireland Uninhabited islands of Ireland Islands of County Wexford Lighthouses on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Demographics

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