Rosses Point Sligo

#irelandshistoricalspots #irishhistory #irishlights #sligo #rossespoint #oysterisland #pilothouse

Scenic flight around Rosses Point in County Sligo.

Rosses Point has a Metal Man, who is an identical twin to the Metal Man at Tramore, Co. Waterford, is established on the Perch Rock in 1821. The beacon has a range of 7 miles and a character of Fl (3) W 6.1 seconds that is synchronised with Oyster Island. Since 2003, the light is exhibited in hours of darkness only.

The Pilot House at Deadman's Point, Rosses Point was built in 1810 and was the home of the estuary pilot, whose job was to guide ships into Sligo Harbour. In later times it is said to have been used by smugglers.

The Pilot house features in the short story 'The Old Men of the Twilight' by William Butler Yeats:

“At the place, close to the Dead Man's Point, at the Rosses, where the
disused pilot-house looks out to sea through two round windows like
eyes, a mud cottage stood in the last century”.

Oyster island is one of Sligos best known scenic landmarks and has significant links associated to Sligo history reaching as far back as the 16th Century.

Embedded within Sligo Harbour between both headlands Rosses Point and Strandhill, Oyster Island is renowned for its 170 years old Lighthouse and neat cottages. It is within 180 metres of the shoreline at Rosses Point.

Between the late 16th and 17th centuries, The O’Connors of Carbury were in possession of Coney Island with numerous successors gaining reign of the Island over the latter centuries.

The Island was famous for its oyster fishery, with beds covering an area of up to seventy acres. The Island was at the centre of a major story in 1864 when the beds were raided by eight boatloads of men and twenty-five thousand oysters were taken.

From 1841, the population of Oyster Island had decreased from 28 which mostly consisted of lighthouse employees and their familiies to one solitary inhabitant as per a Census report in 1986.

[This Too Shall Pass] by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au @ScottBuckley