Fanad Head Lighthouse

Fanad Head Light stands at the tip of the Fanad peninsula in County Donegal, on a low headland where the mouth of Lough Swilly opens onto the Atlantic. The tower is white and compact, 22 metres from foundation to top, but its setting is everything: a cluster of keepers' buildings on green turf, rocks falling into the sea, and the open Atlantic beyond. It has often been voted one of the most beautiful lighthouses in the world, and it is easy to see why from the approach road, where the whole station appears framed by cliffs and ocean.

The light owes its existence to a disaster. On 4 December 1811 the Royal Navy frigate HMS Saldanha was driven onto the coast here in a storm and more than 250 men were lost, among them the young captain William Pakenham; local tradition holds that the ship's parrot was the only survivor. Work on a light began in 1815 to a design by the engineer George Halpin on a budget of £2,000, and it was first lit on St Patrick's Day 1817. The present, taller tower replaced the original and came into operation on 1 September 1886; its light shines about 39 metres above the sea.

For well over a century keepers lived at Fanad. By 1978 only a principal keeper remained, and when he retired in 1983 the station became an attendant station; the light itself still works. The keepers' houses have since been restored as cottages where visitors can stay overnight, and guided tours climb the 76 steps of the tower — granite spiral stairs and a final ladder — to the lantern and the gallery, with the Atlantic and the Donegal coast spread around it.

Getting there

The lighthouse is about 37 km from Letterkenny by straight line. The nearest airport is City of Derry (LDY) in Northern Ireland, about 40 km away; within the Republic, Donegal Airport (CFN) is about 52 km away. The headland is reached by road along the Fanad peninsula, and tours and stays are booked through the lighthouse's own website.