Howth Harbour Lighthouses, Maritime navigation structure at Howth Harbour, Ireland.
Howth Harbour Lighthouse is a stone tower on the East Pier, built with granite shipped from Dalkey Quarry and stone from the Kilrock quarry. A single-storey keeper's house and oil store was added beside it in 1821, raised by a second storey in 1856. Beyond the tower, a white pole light on the pier extension has carried the navigation light since 1982.
Work on Howth's east pier began in 1807 to a design by Captain Taylor, and John Rennie the Elder took over after a section collapsed. The lighthouse, designed by Rennie, was built under George Halpin and first lit on 1 July 1818 with twelve Argand lamps, red glasses and silvered copper catoptric reflectors. It was electrified in 1955 with a 250-watt bulb, and a white pole light on the pier extension took over on 19 May 1982.
The tower's light was first shown on 1 July 1818, and the keeper's single-storey house was added in 1821, gaining a second storey in 1856. A wall around the tower once held artillery pieces for the defence of the harbour. The Holyhead Mail Pier Lighthouse, also by Rennie, is its matching tower at the other end of the packet route.
The East Pier walkway leads out to the lighthouse and its 1982 replacement pole light, with the harbour and Ireland's Eye visible along the way. The pier is exposed to wind and spray, so sturdy footwear and weatherproof clothing help. The lighthouse keeper's house, raised to two storeys in 1856, stands beside the tower.
The 1982 replacement was not a halogen switch: a white pole light on the pier extension took over on 19 May 1982, fitted with a glass drum lens in a buoy lantern. Halogen lamps came only with the 2010 modernisation, when it moved to mains supply with battery backup.
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