Green Island Lighthouse
| Green Island Lighthouse | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | J248109 |
| Location: | 54°1’58"N, 6°5’45"W |
| Characteristics | |
| Height: | 45 feet |
| History | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Commissioners of Irish Lights |
Green Island Lighthouse stands on a small island in Carlingford Lough, in County Down.
The lighthouse was built after a request made in 1868 from the Carlingford Lough Commissioners, who had begun to deepen the channel in the lough. They requested that the Commissioners for the Irish Lights erect two leading lights for the newly deepened channel. By July 1868 it had been agreed that the lights should come under the Mercantile Marine Fund and the Carlingford Commissioners requested Irish Lights to make arrangements for the construction of the two lights. One stands on Green Island.
The lights are screw-pile lattice steel structures with a small housing for the light on top. The rear structure, Green Island, is 45 feet high above high water and the front structure, Vidal Bank, is 28 feet high. They are 500 yards apart. Fixed white lights were established on 28th February 1873 and the structures were painted red with a white housing for the light, which at that time was an oil lamp.
In 1922 the lights were converted to unwatched acetylene with a water to carbide generator. The character of the lights was altered from fixed to occulting giving a two second flash every three seconds. In 1967 propane cylinders replaced the acetylene generators and the light source changed to a mantle from a fantail flame. In August 1999 the leading lights were solarised and the flash characteristics were synchronised. From this date the lights were exhibited in hours of darkness only.
Outside links
- Green Island Lighthouse: Commissioners of the Irish Lights