Blackhead Lighthouse, Maritime navigation tower in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Blackhead Lighthouse is an octagonal stone tower on a clifftop at the northern entrance to Belfast Lough, on the Antrim coast in Northern Ireland. Three keeper houses stand close to the tower and have been converted into self-catering holiday rentals.
The tower was built in 1902 after the Belfast Harbour Board pushed for safer navigation for the growing traffic on the lough. Over time the light was fully automated, and the keepers left the site for good.
The name Blackhead refers to the dark basalt cliffs on which the tower sits, a feature that sailors used as a visual landmark long before any light was built here. Today the keeper cottages are rented out as holiday homes, so guests can sleep in the same rooms that once housed the families who tended the light.
The site is reached by a coastal road and walking paths along the cliffs allow you to explore the area on foot. The clifftop position is very exposed, so warm and windproof clothing is worth bringing regardless of the season.
An underground tunnel once connected the tower to the keeper houses so that residents could move between them safely during storms without going outside. Traces of this passage are still visible and show how everyday life in this exposed spot called for practical solutions.
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