ROGER’S LIGHTHOUSE PASSION A BEACON OF LOCAL HERITAGE HOPE
`I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve.’ George Bernard Shaw.
There is something very beguiling, if not romantic about lighthouses; standing so proud and tall, guarding coastlines and warning of danger, they have been the subject of fiction, songs and movies throughout the centuries.
Drogheda-born illustrator Roger O’Reilly is continuing his lifelong passion for these intriguing buildings with his latest book ‘Legendary Lighthouses of Great Britain: An Illustrated Guide to the Sentinels that Guard Our Shore’, a follow-up to his hugely successful collection on Irish lighthouses.
Packed with legends, sea lore and exciting true-life tales, this is a highly giftable treasure trove of Britain’s top 100 lighthouses, each one illustrated by the award-winning artist.
“I grew up near the Boyne Estuary lighthouse in Mornington, County Meath and I suppose ever since I have associated a sense of peace and reassurance with the warm glow of lighthouse beacons,” explains Roger, who won Best Irish Published Book of the Year at the prestigious An Post Book awards in 2018 for his ‘Lighthouses of Ireland’.
“After the success of the first book, I went on holidays to Cornwall where I discovered the beautiful Lizard Point lighthouse, and before I knew it I was getting my map out and heading up towards the coast of Wales!”
What resulted is a unique celebration of 100 of the most dramatic and storied lighthouses along the coasts of Britain. Illustrated with fantastic retro art by Roger, this guide to the sentinels that guard Britain’s shores is aimed at walkers, art lovers, maritime and countryside enthusiasts, and anyone who just loves lighthouses.
“I had started out only intending on doing five or six lighthouses, but by the time I had finished, I had over 200 which of course wouldn’t fit so I had to whittle it down to 106,” he laughs.
From the Lizard in Cornwall to Muckle Flugga at the northern tip of the Shetlands, and out to the forbidding rock stations that lie offshore in the path of ferocious and unforgiving seas, Roger has selected the very best of Britain’s lighthouses with all their sea legends, folklore and tales of ghosts, shipwrecks and endurance.
“I remember as a teenager growing up looking out onto the east and west lighthouses at Mornington and we would go down and see them as dusk settled in during the summer, and as the lights came on, there was just something reassuring about that, and as we watched ships waiting to come in, we were aware they were relying on these lights at the guidance system,” says Roger, who now lives in Kilkenny. “It’s the same with all the locations around the coast; it tells you your journey is almost finished, but the most dangerous part of your journey can be as you approach your destination.
“And I also think for landlubbers, the traditional image of the lighthouse with a spiral staircase up to the lantern room has a very romantic aspect.”
Some of the lighthouses in Roger’s latest publication have dramatic tales in their histories.
Like Souter on the Sunderland coast, reputed to be haunted by Grace Darling’s niece Isabella, who lived here in the late 1880s. Staff have reported spoons floating in midair, unexplained temperature drops, and even being clutched by unseen hands.
Or Smalls, off the Pembrokeshire coast, where in 1801 one keeper died and the other went mad, waiting almost four months for rescue while his dead colleague, fastened to the outside rail because the corpse had started to decompose, stared through the window at him accusingly.
Roger spent two years criss-crossing Great Britain to draw dramatic portraits of these beloved landmarks and each is accompanied by a wealth of practical and insightful information: history, location, elevation, signal and range. This spectacularly illustrated celebration of these architectural gems will be treasured by anyone who finds comfort, intrigue or excitement in the glimmer of a lighthouse through the darkness.
So is Roger planning to look further afield for another collection?
I’ve done a number of ones already in the US, so that’s where I’ll probably be looking next, because Americans are particularly fond of their lighthouses,” he explains. “I think there are over 1500 locations around the US coast and many have been decommissioned and a lot of Americans will actually move into them.”
Roger is hoping his books will also highlight what needs to be done to protect our own heritage, not only in Ireland but on our own local shores.
“Drogheda is the perfect example as since 2002, we’ve been hearing that the three lighthouses (at the Boyne Estuary) are going to be protected by the harbour board and the walkways will be finished out to them, but both the east and the west seem to be falling into decay,” says Roger. “Most communities in Britain are America are very aware of the heritage that the lighthouses represent and been turned into everything from museums to a champagne bar, so I’d love to see more care taken in what we have locally.”
Roger O’Reilly’s ‘Legendary Lighthouses of Great Britain: An Illustrated Guide to the Sentinels that Guard Our Shore’ is available from all good bookstores and online priced €36.