A leading light in tourism on the Peninsula

AN information notice written on a small blackboard advised visitors attending Loop Head Lighthouse “Waiting time – 25 minutes,” on Friday afternoon.
An orderly queue had formed at the foot of the 23m high lighthouse managed by Stephen Rowan, which recently opened on a six-week trial basis until the end of August.
There has been a huge surge of tourists stopping off in the Loop Head peninsula since Clare County Council has opened the doors to the 19th century building as a pilot project for the first time in its 341-year history.
An impressive 4,800 people have visited the lighthouse since the public were allowed to gain access.
Two thousand visitors took advantage of spectacular views from the top of the lighthouse on the first week, 2,100 the second week and 700 on the Bank Holiday Monday including 300 children.
Councillor Gabriel Keating, who proposed the lighthouse should be opened two years ago, told The Clare Champion Kilrush businesses are also benefiting from the huge tourism spin-off for the peninsula.
“At one stage last Monday, there were 78 cars parked in the car park and along the roadside outside Loop Head Lighthouse. There were another 29 cars at the Bridges of Ross and 30 cars in the two pubs in Kilbaha. I have never seen the likes of it. It is providing a huge boost for tourism in West Clare.
“People are happy to sit and wait on the lawn before they head up to the top of the lighthouse. There are loads of activities in the peninsula for tourists and visitors to enjoy.
“Tourists can go for a walk around Loop Head, enjoy bird watching at the Bridges of Ross, visit the Church of the Little Ark, go fishing or Dolphin watching in Carrigaholt. Director of service, Ger Dollard was the driving force behind securing a deal between Clare County Council and the Commission of Irish Lights,” he said.
Other initiatives that are being considered include ‘Learning at the Loop’ whereby geology students would stay at the peninsula while studying the interesting geology of the area in association with Clare VEC.
On July 27 next year, the Irish College Coláiste Uí Comhraí celebrates its 100th anniversary and hopes are high the area can be reclassified as a Gaeltacht once more.
Clare County Council has already invited Taoiseach Enda Kenny to visit Loop Head Lighthouse and hopes surviving former lighthouse keepers will be invited to a function, on the same day as the Fine Gael leader if possible.
Deputy Kenny’s grandfather, James McGinley, served as a lighthouse keeper in 1933 and ’34.
The first lighthouse on Loop Head was one of four known Irish stone-vaulted cottage-type lights built about 1670. These cottages accommodated the lightkeeper and his family in two or three rooms and had an internal stone stairway between two of the rooms leading up to a platform on the roof where a coal-burning brazier or chauffer was positioned. Part of the old cottage, with its battered outside wall, can still be seen near the lightkeeper’s dwelling.
The existing tower-style lighthouse was constructed in 1854 and was operated and maintained by a keeper who lived within the lighthouse compound. In January 1991, the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation and today, is in the care of an attendant and is also monitored by the Commissioners of Irish Lights from a base in Dún Laoghaire.