Cranfield Point ( ga, Pointe Chreamhchoille) is the southernmost point of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. It is located at the mouth of

Carlingford Lough Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots: ''Carlinford Loch'') is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of the border between Northern Ireland to the north and the Republic of Ireland to the south. On its northern shore i ...

in the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

of Cranfield,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...

. It was once the site of the Cranfield Point

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 ...

, marking the entrance to the lough. Its poor position led to the construction of the

Haulbowline Lighthouse The Haulbowline Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse. Described as an "elegant, tapering stone tower" it is located at the entrance to Carlingford Lough, near Cranfield Point in County Down, Northern Ireland. The lighthouse was buil ...

situated in the middle of the entrance to Carlingford Lough. Cranfield Point Lighthouse subsequently fell victim to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwar ...

and collapsed into the sea during the 1860s. The lighthouse keeper's cottage remained and was later converted into a private residence that can still be seen as of 2007, identified by its characteristic tall black chimneys.

References

Headlands of County Down {{Down-geo-stub