Loop Head Lighthouse

1674 23/03/2015 8
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Loop Head Lighthouse

Loop Head Lighthouse Phantom2 - Loop Head Clare Ireland There has been a lighthouse at Loop Head since 1670, originally a signal fire on the roof of a single-storey cottage (which can still be seen on the grounds), where the lightkeeper lived.The present tower, which stands 23 metres high, was built in 1854. The range of the light is 23 nautical miles and its ‘character’ is a white light flashing four times in 20 seconds. The operation was converted to electricity in 1871, and automated in 1991.For the 2015 season the lighthouse is open to the public every day from April 3rd through to October 2nd, from 10am to 6pm. Please check with Clare County Council on this link to double check opening times as they operate the facility.An exhibition on the history of Irish Lighthouses is located in the Light Keeper’s Cottage. Visitors can take a guided tour up the tower and go out onto the balcony, from where, weather permitting, you can see south as far as the Blasket Islands and north to the Twelve Pins in Connemara, along the Wild Atlantic Way.Kilkee, Loop Head’s main town, is built around a horseshoe bay with a kilometre of golden, blue-flag beach. Because of the Duggerna Reef (locally known as the Pollock Holes) stretching across its mouth, the bay is naturally sheltered from the Atlantic, and Kilkee beach is the safest in Clare.Kilkee has been a famous resort for almost 200 years. When a passenger steamer service began plying the river between Limerick and Kilrush in 1816, visitors started arriving in droves to take the waters in Kilkee. Soon it became a favourite bathing place of the Victorian aristocracy, and its popularity was enhanced by the opening of the West Clare Railway in the late 1800s. Kilkee retains much of its Victorian character, and the 19th century part of the town has been designated an Architectural Conservation Area//www.loophead.ie