Rotten Island Lighthouse, Killybegs, County Donegal

Not the setting from a Stephen King horror novel, Rotten Island is instead a harbour light that illuminates the passage from St. John’s Point to the inner channel and past the rocks to anchorage within Killybegs Harbour.

Requested by the commander of the coast guard, who wrote to the Ballast Board in 1832, it is once again the work of George Halpin Snr. The light was established in 1838 and the 14 metre high, cut granite tower painted white. Tragically three workers drowned during construction when their boat capsized.

The lighthouse is a familiar sight to the fleets of fishing trawlers that ply the waters off our western coast and must be a welcome sight for those returning to shore after a long period out on the fishing banks

The station became unwatched on 7th January 1959 and was converted to dissolved acetylene. The new fuel however, was considered to give an inadequate light by many of the mariners using harbour and it was quickly converted to electricity with an increase in power to 13,000 candelas in the white sector and 2,600 in the red. The white sector has a range of 28 kilometres, the red’s range is 20 kilometres.

Location:     54°36.879′ North, 08°26.435′ West.

Elevation:    20 m

Character:   Fl WR 4s

Range:         W: 28 km, R: 20 km