Resources

There are a number of great online resources for researching the history of lighthouses, as well as lighthouses you can visit and some you can even stay in:

  • Irish Lights – The Commissioners of Irish Lights are an all-Ireland body delivering an essential safety service, protecting the marine environment, and supporting the marine industry and coastal communities. Their website has a wealth of technical and historical information about lighthouse, buoys and the many Aids to Navigation in use today.
  • Great Lighthouses of Ireland – the Great Light has joined this exclusive list of spectacular lighthouses across Ireland. A Commissioner of Irish Lights tourism initiative, it tells the story of the hundreds of years lighthouses and their lights which helped seafarers find their way. You can even find out which lighthouses or keeper’s cottages you can stay in.
  • Association of Lighthouse Keepers – is a forum for everyone interested in lighthouses, lightships and maritime aids to navigation.
  • United States Lighthouse Society – is a nonprofit historical and educational organisation dedicated to saving and sharing the rich maritime legacy of American lighthouses and supporting lighthouse preservation throughout the nation.

We have produced a series of educational factsheets that you can download here:

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The Great Light Factsheets Overview
PDF - 194 KB

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1. A Lighthouse Optic
PDF - 208 KB

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2. Materials
PDF - 242 KB

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3. Changes Over Time
PDF - 350 KB

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4. Inventors and Engineers
PDF - 258 KB

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5. Lighthouses
PDF - 519 KB

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6. Lighthouse Keepers
PDF - 276 KB

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The Great Light Worksheet
PDF - 159 KB

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Tory Island 1887 Illumination by Gas
PDF - 507 KB

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Wigham, John R Inventor KL History
PDF - 10 MB

Build your own mini lighthouse

The following guide tells you how to build your own mini lighthouse - out of papercups, paper plates and your imagination!

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Step by step lighthouse guide Final
PDF - 716 KB