The lighthouse known as the Tower of Lloyd was commissioned in 1791 by Thomas Taylor, 1st Earl of Bective, in memory of his father. Henry Aaron Baker designed it. The 'lighthouse' is located on the Commons of Lloyd near Kells in County Meath, some 40km from the coast, and as such is redundant as a lighthouse. It was, however, used in the nineteenth century by the aristocracy for viewing the local hunt. The Tower of Lloyd is, in fact, an eighteenth-century folly.
What relevance has any of this to County Mayo? The answer is none, save for this: On 18 March 1797, James M. O'Donel of Newport Pratt wrote a lengthy letter addressed to 'The Merchants and Insurance Companies of Great Britain and Ireland'. The subject of the letter was a proposed development at Old Head on the south coast of Clew Bay that had come to O'Donel's attention. O'Donel had learned that the Committee of Supply had voted £2,650 to build a lighthouse at Old Head, 'Clare Bay'. O'Donel suggested there was a mistake and that the reference should have been to Clew Bay, also known as the Bay of Newport Pratt. Either that or the reference was deliberately written to mislead and 'prevent the job from being perceived till too late'. O'Donel contended an intentionally misleading address was used for the proposed development to ensure those opposed to it would not learn about it until it was too late.
At length and referencing maps, charts, and his knowledge of the bay, O'Donel explained that a lighthouse at Old Head would be useless for several reasons. The principal reason advanced by O'Donel was that Clare Island, with its high cliffs, lay between Old Head and the Atlantic. As such, the lights of a lighthouse at Old Head would not be seen by shipping on the Atlantic side of Clare Island. The lights would be visible within Clew Bay, but a lighthouse was not required as the bay was one of the safest in Europe.
O'Donel asked (and this is the link with the folly at Kells ): 'In the name of God then, who could have recommended erecting a building wholly useless, at such an expense, and at such a time? Was he a mariner or a country gentleman?' O'Donel called for the lord lieutenant to prevent the money of the nation from being expended on such a useless object—the Bog of Allen would, O'Donel contended, have been as appropriate as Old Head for a lighthouse. According to O'Donel, the building would serve as a monument to the lavish abuse of public money. O'Donel believed Achill Head or Black-Rock offered a better location for a lighthouse. These locations had also been highlighted by the Right Honourable Conyngham Burton when he inspected the coast in the company of Lieutenant Drury of the Royal Navy. O'Donel did not want insurance houses and merchants in Ireland and Britain investing in infrastructure that would not benefit the considerable shipping and trading interests that contended with the dangerous headlands of west Mayo.
Anyone who has visited Old Head will know there is no lighthouse. A lighthouse was built on the northeast side of Clare Island in 1806. It was burned down in 1813 but was replaced by a new tower and lantern in 1818. It is not known whether O'Donel's writing informed the decision to build on Clare Island. The Lighthouse on Clare Island was discovered over time to be too high—the lantern was often above the clouds and was thus not visible to shipping. In 1965, a decision was finally taken to decommission it and replace it with a new lighthouse on Achillbeg Island.
The 'lighthouse' near Kells was built by a 'country gentleman' and is an important heritage asset visited by many people each year. Clare Island Lighthouse is also an important and unique heritage asset and offers tourist accommodation. Old Head may not have a lighthouse, actual or folly, but it has one of the most beautiful beaches in Clew Bay as well as its own unique history. (Image: Tower of Lloyd, www.buildingsofireland.com ).
