Islands of Ireland: Did a London bureaucrat put Crookhaven's Rock Island lighthouse in the wrong spot?

The local coastguard station was established in the early 19th century as a means of keeping an eye on smuggling activity — Crookhaven was once a hotbed of contraband

The lighthouse on Rock Island at the entrance to Crookhaven in West Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Rock Island, or Oileán na Carraige, at Crookhaven, County Cork may owe its geographical status to a narrow isthmus that occasionally floods at spring tide but its island status is merited nonetheless. For one, it has its own lighthouse (not that they are confined to islands) but also a singular character that separates it from the ‘mainland’. And prior to the causeway to the island being built the island had a daily delivery of mail by boat from Crookhaven.

Owing to several shipping disasters a movement to agitate for the construction of a lighthouse was undertaken. In the 18th century, Crookhaven was a stopping-off point by the West India British fleet and later the Italian Marconi set up a telegraphy station to transfer messages across the Atlantic. Shipping activity was constant so a lighthouse was deemed essential.