Tower of Lloyd – Kells Lighthouse

“I’m looking at the river, but I’m thinking of the sea.”

Randy Newsman’s lyrics could have been written for the tower of Lloyd,  a lighthouse that finds itself stranded twenty miles from the ocean.

Built in 1791, the Kells lighthouse as it’s locally known was never meant to steer ships to home, but instead the 30 metre high tower was used by the Earl of Bective as a viewing platform for various country pursuits including horse racing and the hunt and to watch for his ships coming into Carlingford Lough to the northeast. The tower was designed by Henry Aaron Baker, designer of the King’s Inn, Dublin and it was erected in the late 19^th Century by the First Earl of Bective in memory of his father, Sir Thomas Taylor. Inside there is a 164 step spiral staircase, with a central protective cage leading to the gallery on top. A plaque on the east side of the Spire carries the Headfort Coat of Arms with the family crest “Consequitur quodquinque petit,“ (He follows what he seeks).

The spire stands on the site of an Iron Age ring fort, but it is believed that the site dates back further to the Bronze Age.

Location:  53°43’56.91″North,  6°54’20.16″West.