Irish Lights Heritage
Our History

Browse the Heritage site

History

Discover the timeline of the Commissioners of Irish Lights

About Heritage

For more information on the Heritage project & how we restore documents

Stories

Live the stories of Irish Lights and coastal life.
Webinars and Special Articles

The Commissioners of Irish Lights and IRA Raids on Lighthouses During the War of Independence

By Dr Eoin Kinsella

That importance was highlighted during the First World War as lightkeepers and lightshipmen acted as a quasi-coast watching service, reporting on the war at sea as observed from their stations. Events in Ireland after the war’s end, however, soon forced them to keep an eye both on land and sea.

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The history of Irish Lights

The talk will give an overview of the History of Irish Lights and provide an introduction to the Archive and its contents. The Archive of Irish Lights is a source not just of maritime history, but also for the wider social, political, military, engineering, architectural, scientific and administrative history of Ireland in the 19th & 20th centuries.

Lighthouses and Lightships

In late 1913, the Commissioners of Irish Lights received word from the Admiralty that, in the event of war, it would be necessary to dim or even extinguish certain navigational lights around the coast. Even with that warning, there was little to indicate the scale of the challenges presented to Irish Lights over the next ten years.

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