Cliffs of History and Memory at Dunmore East

Tramore Bay lies about eight miles west of the entrance to Waterford Harbour and the famous Hook Head Lighthouse. It is embraced by two headlands: Brownstown Head, 110 feet high, to the east, and Great Newtown Head, 150 feet high, to the west. The bay covers an area of about eight square miles and is divided by a spit of sand three miles long running west to east, hence the name Tráigh Mhór (Great Strand). The south side of the strand is washed by the open sea, while the northern side forms a lagoon connected at the east end to the sea by a narrow, deep channel known as Rinnashark Harbour. Brownstown Head lies in the Barony of Gaultier.

On January 30, 1816, a military transport ship, The Seahorse, was wrecked off Tramore Bay while carrying soldiers returning from the Napoleonic Wars and their families on a voyage from Ramsgate to Cork. The wreck claimed the lives of 292 men as well as 71 women and children. Only 30 of the passengers on board survived the tragedy.

Popular opinion holds that this event was the catalyst for the subsequent erection of the three pillars on Great Newtown Head at Tramore and two pillars on Brownstown Head at the other end of Tramore Bay, designed to aid navigation and minimise further loss of life. While the Seahorse tragedy was certainly a factor, moves to have pillars erected on both Great Newtown Head and Brownstown Head had actually begun five years earlier, in 1811.

At a Board Meeting of the Corporation for Improving the Port of Dublin on 14 March 1811, letters were read, including one from Mr. R. Pope, the Waterford agent for the London Assurance Company. Mr. Pope’s letter referred to the loss of the sloop Commerce and the schooner Grinder in Tramore Bay. He also mentioned a Martello or Signal Tower erected by the Government on Brownstown Head, warning that the tower could easily be mistaken in bad weather for the tower at Hook Head, thus leading ships into Tramore Bay instead of Waterford Harbour. He requested that the “evil” tower be removed. (1) 

Over the following years, various correspondence passed between officials, with the issue continually sidestepped—a mode of business certainly not unique to modern times. Finally, in September 1818, Mr. George Halpin, an Inspector, reported following an earlier visit that two cautionary towers should be positioned on Brownstown Head and three on Great Newtown Head, which would ensure that neither headland would be mistaken for Hook Head’s single tower. The Elder Brethren at Trinity House were duly informed. (Trinity House, incorporated by Royal Charter in 1514, has prime responsibility for the safety of shipping and the well-being of seafarers. Elder Brethren are elected to form the Court and oversee the Corporate Board and Lighthouse Board.)

On 21 January 1819, the Board wrote to His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant and also the Lords of the Treasury, informing them of the situation and requesting their sanction for the erection of the towers. The two Brownstown towers were to be built on land owned by Lord Fortescue and leased to Mr. A. Alcock. (Part of Lord Fortescue’s land had also been requisitioned a few years earlier for the construction of Dunmore Harbour.) Again, much legal wrangling took place concerning both the Brownstown and Great Newtown Head locations. The contractor was Edward Saunders, whose price of £675 per pillar clinched the deal; a contract was subsequently drawn up by the Law Agent.

By March 1824, Inspector Halpin was able to report that the two towers on Brownstown Head had been built and that mariners would no longer mistake this headland for Hook Head. (2) 

When it comes to the history of lighthouses in Ireland, one name stands out: George Halpin, the same Inspector Halpin who reported on Brownstown. When the Ballast Board became responsible for lighthouses in 1810, Halpin was appointed Inspector of Lighthouses as well as Inspector of Works. At that time, there were only fourteen lighthouses around the coast of Ireland. By the time the Ballast Board handed over responsibility for lighthouses to the Commissioners of Irish Lights in 1867, that number had soared to seventy-two. A builder by trade, with no formal engineering qualifications, Halpin designed and supervised the construction of over fifty lighthouses around the coast of Ireland during a 44-year period. (3) 

On Great Newtown Head, three towers were erected, and on the middle one was placed a sailor, twelve feet high, with his right arm extended. This, of course, is the famous Metal Man. Legend has it that in stormy weather, the Metal Man is heard to chant:

“Keep off, good ship, keep off from me, for I’m the rock of Misery.”

There is evidence that the statue was originally intended for one of the Brownstown pillars, with the outstretched hand pointing the way to Waterford Harbour. On Thursday, September 25th, 1823, a large cast-iron statue was landed at Waterford and hauled to Newtown. Due to the weight of the statue, when the error was noticed, it was decided to leave it where it was. (4)

The Metal Man was designed by the Cork sculptor Thomas Kirk in 1817, and four statues were subsequently cast. Another one can be seen in the harbour at Rosses Point, Sligo; the destination of the other two statues is not clear. Kirk also designed the statue of Nelson for Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin.

While the Brownstown pillars were deprived of a statue, they have nevertheless continued to keep watch on shipping since their erection in 1823. They have witnessed countless tragic shipwrecks, maritime mishaps, and brave rescues of seafarers down through the years.

Renowned Gaultier historian Matthew Butler, author of The History of Gaultier (1913), wrote a regular column for The Waterford News. On one occasion, he recalled an 1827 wrecking off Brownstown:

A Brownstown Wreck

In the Waterford Chronicle of November 29th, 1827, an announcement was published of the wreck of the vessel Aurora off Brownstown Head. The notice stated that she had sailed from Waterford for London with a cargo of butter and bacon and that she was 190–200 tons burden. The vessel was wrecked somewhat to the east of Brownstown Head, and both vessel and cargo were completely lost.

As soon as news of the wreck spread, a number of people gathered at the scene. One of them, John Organ of Leperstown, was drowned while trying to save some of the wreckage.

Further Tragedies

A historical note from the Barony of Gaultier Historical Society records another accident in October 1838:

An accident with the loss of three lives occurred in Tramore Bay, near Brownstown Head. Edward Dillon, only child of Thomas Dillon of Summerville (Corballymore House), had gone out in a small boat accompanied by two fishermen, William and Maurice Kelly. They were observing other boats when their own boat foundered in a squall, and the three of them were drowned. Edward Dillon was aged seventeen. In 1838, Lord Fortescue was leasing Summerville to Thomas Dillon.

Another tragic event took place on June 8th, 1843, when a newspaper report from Dunmore East described a “melancholy scene” in which a large American barque laden with cotton was wrecked on Brownstown Head. There were sixteen hands on board, and only one was saved. The vessel, the William Ladd, was sailing from Mobile, Alabama, to Liverpool when it went ashore at Horseleap Glen, near Brownstown Head. (5)

Again, in January 1862, a dreadful storm struck Waterford Harbour and the coastline of County Waterford. As many as ten vessels were lost, one of them the Nairne, which was wrecked at Brownstown Head.

The Pillars’ Changing Appearance

Up until 1930, both the Brownstown and Great Newtown Head pillars were whitewashed. At that time, the Commissioners of Irish Lights decided that the Brownstown pillars would be tarred, while those on Great Newtown Head would remain whitewashed. This practice continued until 1957. (6)

A writer in the Waterford Standard on July 18th, 1931, was unimpressed with the new colour of the Brownstown pillars and described their appearance as “mournful monuments to some bygone sea-monster.”

World War II

In 1939, the Coast Watching Service was set up to monitor and record hostile activity around the Irish coast. Eighty-three Lookout Posts (LOPs) were built in 1939 and 1940 at strategic points along Ireland’s 1,970-mile coastline. LOP 17 (Lookout Post 17) was situated at Brownstown Head. 

From 1939 to 1945, these locations were monitored 24 hours a day by two-man teams. These Lookout Posts (LOPs) became vital sites for intelligence gathering. LOP 16 was located at Hook Head and LOP 18 at Dunabrattin Head.

All marine and aircraft activity was noted in incredible detail in logbooks, and any major activity was transmitted to Defence Forces Headquarters for analysis. These logbooks are now preserved in the Military Archives at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin, and I have had the good fortune to visit and examine them.

LOP 17, during the Emergency period (1939–1945), was manned by the following coast watchers:

• Corporals: Richard Hanrahan, Thomas Keoghan

• Volunteers: J. Corcoran, Patrick Dunne, J. Esmond, John Fitzgerald, J. Keogh, John Keoghan, P. Lennon, J. O’Grady, J. O’Shea, and John Power
  
  

Sadly, John Fitzgerald, who lived a short distance from LOP 17, was tragically drowned with his father Michael off Brownstown Head on May 1st, 1947. John was 29 years old, and Michael was 65 years old when they drowned. Both men are interred in Carbally Cemetery. (7)

Link to: A Report on the Fitzgerald Drowning Tragedy (8)

In January 1941, the keen observation of the coastwatchers at LOP 17 was crucial in the rescue of three Dutch sailors whose vessel, the SS Beemsterdijk, had been mined and sunk. While all other hands were drowned, three sailors drifted on a raft for several days and were spotted close to the rocks. The coast watchers immediately alerted the Dunmore East lifeboat, which rescued the weak and distressed sailors.

The passage of time has not been kind to the LOP 17 structure. It is in urgent need of remedial work to prevent further deterioration, and I am pleased that BGHS are actively involved in obtaining funding to carry out this work. It is most important that structures such as LOP 17 are preserved for future generations as a reminder and testimony to the dutiful watchers who diligently guarded our coast during the dark years of World War II.

Abbreviation:  BGHS   Barony of Gaultier Historical Society

References:

  1   ‘Tramore Beacons’ – document kindly made available by Commissioners of Irish  Lights

  2   ‘Tramore Beacons’ – document kindly made available by Commissioners of Irish Lights

 3    www.greatlighthouses.com

 4   Barony of Gaultier Historical Society  

 5   tramoreshipwrecks.blogspot.com

 6  ‘Tramore Beacons’ – document kindly made available by Commissioners of Irish Lights

 7  Barony of Gaultier Historical Society

 8  The Land League In Carbally