You cannot visit Blackrock, so let’s be straight about that first: it is a working lighthouse on a sheer Atlantic rock west of Blacksod Bay, maintained by Irish Lights, with no public landings and no lighthouse tours. What you may be able to do is see it. From the coast of the Mullet Peninsula, or from high ground on Achill Island, the rock can be picked out on the horizon in clear conditions, though visibility varies and the rock is often half-swallowed in mist. Locally it is An Tor, ‘the tower’.
Stone quarried on the rock itself was used to build the white round tower that stands on top. The first light was shown in 1864, and the station was automated in 1974. The waters around it are exposed to the full Atlantic, and Blackrock is one of the lighthouses of Erris.
History
The case for a light here was argued for decades, and the great lighthouse inspector George Halpin kept preferring Eagle Island, before the Board of Trade finally judged Blackrock the most important of the proposed western stations. The tower was built in 1864 and the light first shown on 1 June that year. The lantern sits high above the sea, well clear of the worst of the Atlantic spray.
Life on the rock was brutal, and the record shows it:
- September 1937 – Keeper Patrick Monaghan was swept off the lighthouse by a freak wave. The later visit of his descendants to the island is the subject of the RTÉ Radio 1 documentary Good Day at Blackrock.
- 20 August 1940 – A German Focke-Wulf Condor attacking the SS Macville nearby raked the lighthouse with fire, shattering lantern panes and damaging the roof. None of the keepers was hurt.
- Winter 1942–43 – Storms smashed the landing stage and derricks and cut the keepers off completely. Three men were stranded for months, kept alive by baskets of supplies dropped from the air.
The keepers were withdrawn when the light was automated in 1974, and the island has been uninhabited since. The light was later converted to solar power while keeping its old white-and-red character. In March 2017 the island was at the centre of tragedy again when the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 struck Blackrock on a night approach with the loss of all four crew; the difficulty of recovering the wreckage from these waters showed how violent the sea here can be.
Seeing it
Irish Lights looks after the station, and the island is closed to everyone else. The mainland views are from the Mullet Peninsula, around Blacksod, and from the higher ground on Achill on a settled day. Bring a long lens, because even at its nearest the rock is a fair way out, and go on a bright morning before any mist closes in. After dark from the coast you may be able to pick out the flash of the light far out on the black water, but visibility varies, so do not count on it.
For a lighthouse you can actually go inside, book with Blacksod Lighthouse. Its guides also tell the story of the Black Rock keepers.
Nearby
- Blacksod Lighthouse – the mainland light on Blacksod Point, which runs guided tours, and the place from which a 1944 weather reading famously helped fix the date of the D-Day landings.
- Belmullet – the main Gaeltacht town of Erris, and the base for exploring the Mullet Peninsula.
- Achill Island – across the water to the south, with the Atlantic Drive and Keem Bay.