Lighthouse keeping: A bygone era

Gazing at the iron railings that separate man and ocean the end of a livelihood becomes apparent. Hundreds of coats of paint are flaking away from the railings, rust replacing the handiwork of lighthouse keepers.

The west lighthouse, Rathlin island was built into the cliff face between 1912-1917, the light unveiled in 1919. Three men staffed the lighthouse, each taking a different shift with the early morning watch starting at 4am. The keepers routinely manned the lighthouse, undertaking maintenance including the painting of the lighthouse and the railings.

Approximately 160 people reside on Rathlin island today with the memory of the lighthouse keepers living on in the local community. The stories passed from generation to generation are not to be forgotten, as The Northword Storytagging project has brought storytellers like Alison McFaul to connect Rathlin’s history to the present, as seen in an extract from ‘The Lighthouse Kitchen Cupboards’:

“And then with no-one left to care

The place was stripped and soon left bare. 

But Lighthouse life and story leapt

Into my heart and so I kept

 

The cupboards and the dresser too

A chair, a table, a bed, not new,

But full of history, not lost,

Worth so much more than what they cost.” -Alison McFaul

 

McFaul wrote 'The Lighthouse kitchen cupboard' as a nostalgic piece regaling us with the lives that were led as lighthouse keepers and how that translates to the present. The lighthouse’s kitchen cupboards and dresser reside with Alison McFaul who uses them every day, honouring them in that they are in use and not lost to the past. McFaul’s reimagining of a lighthouse keepers life reignites a purpose, a vision of what life was.

It is thought that lighthouse keepers lived in isolation, their trade a sole responsibility. However, the keepers had a huge impact on the residents of Rathlin island, often bringing their families with them or starting a family which increased the population. ‘Lighthouse Relief Day’ provided ample opportunity for residents to gather at the quay, whereupon the boat from Ballycastle to Rathlin island would dock, filled with ordered produce and goods.

Pictured above is the boat taken to Ballycastle from Rathlin island.

Lighthouse keepers worked in the West lighthouse until 1983 when it became automated. In 1995 the lighthouse’s fog signal was removed, 70 years of service replaced by the sound of gulls. The tiered black basalt cliffs that reside amongst the west lighthouse are adorned with feathers. As I peer out to sea the fog rolls across Rathlin island with no distinction between land and sea. The call of the kittiwake, a strictly coastal gull is reminiscent of a bygone era when lighthouse keepers heard the same call of the gulls and felt the coastal air brush past them. The cliffs are home to more than the kittiwake, with approximately 250,000 seabirds including guillemots, razorbills, and puffins. These birds are known to flock to Rathlin island to breed.

Paddy the climber, as pictured above (beside the door) harvested eggs whether it be guillemots or razorbills, 1902.

The ‘upside down’ lighthouse now serves as a tourist attraction with a cliff-face vantage point. The west lighthouse has been named as such as the red paraffin light sits at the base of the lighthouse rather than atop. The area surrounding the west lighthouse has become Rathlin West Light Seabird Centre, a maritime museum that exhibits the island’s avian populations.

The legacy of the lighthouse keepers has a permanency that cannot be replaced and with the help of storytellers like Alison McFaul that way of life will be remembered fondly. In the coming months, creative practitioner Sasha McVey will create functional ceramic tableware in response to Alison McFaul’s ‘The Lighthouse Kitchen Cupboards’. Together, these creative practitioners are producing pieces that bring these stories to life.

To hear more about this project view: Meet the Maker - Northword NI