- Donaghadee Lighthouse
Infobox_Lighthouse
name = Donaghadee Lighthouse
caption = Donaghadee Lighthouse,Donaghadee .
location =County Down
coordinates =
yearbuilt =
yearlit =
automated =
yeardeactivated =
foundation =
construction =
shape =
marking = North of Ireland Lighthouse
height =
elevation =
lens =
currentlens =
intensity =
range =
characteristic =Dohaghadee Lighthouse is a
lighthouse inDonaghadee County Down ,Northern Ireland .Donaghadee is probably best known for its
lighthouse andharbour . There has been a haven for ships at Donaghadee (locally known colloquially as the 'Dee') for centuries, and there has also existed a harbour since at least the 17th century. Viscount Montgomery's harbour (1626; improved 1640), superseding what had hitherto been probably only a smalljetty , was built and maintained as a result of theRoyal Warrant of 1616 which limited travel between the Ards and theRhins of Galloway to this port, and that atPortpatrick also owned by Montgomery. It was described by Harris in 1744 as 'a curving quay about convert|400|ft|m long and convert|22|ft|m wide built of uncemented stones'. It ran from the shore at the north end of the Parade in a broad arc, bent against the open sea, towards the southern end of the present north pier. Much patched and decrepit, thequay was virtually rebuilt, though along the original line, between 1775 and 1785 by the landlord,Daniel Delacherois , probably with the help ofJohn Smeaton , the distinguishedcivil engineer who had apparently made earlier more elaborate plans for extending the harbour, and who had just rebuiltPortpatrick harbour. The old quay remained until after the completion of the new harbour, and then, despite its continued favour by local fishermen, was removed for local wall building about 1833. (It appears in the 1832 drawing but not on the first O.S. map of 1834).The foundation stone of the new harbour was laid by the
Marquis of Downshire on1 August 1821 . The initial plans and surveys for this ambitious undertaking had been made byJohn Rennie Senior, the celebrated engineer whose works included Waterloo,Southwark andLondon Bridge s over theThames . He, however, died within two months of work beginning, and was succeeded by his son, John, laterSir John Rennie , who had as his resident engineer a fellow Scot, the seasoned marine builder,David Logan , who had assisted Robert Stevenson at theBell Rock Lighthouse (1807-1810). The new harbour had to have greater depth to accommodatesteam packets . Rock blasted from the sea bed, within the harbour area and further south in what became known as theQuarry Hol e atMeetinghouse Point was used to form the outer slopes of the two piers; but the inner faces were built of limestone from theMoelfre quarries ofAnglesea . This 'Anglesea marble' lends itself to the finestashlar dressing and the new piers remain a triumph of stone carving. The flights of steps display special skill in the deep diagonal binding of each solid step, providing a typically robust engineer's response to the wear ofseaboot s and waves alike. The harbour consists of two independent piers running north westwards out to sea; parallel nearer the shore, they converge at the outer ends to form a harbour mouth convert|150|ft|m wide. At low tide the water in the harbour is fifteen feet deep.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.