Fanad Lighthouse

Three-stage round-plan lighthouse, built 1886-7, with faceted glass and metal lantern. Constructed of smooth-rendered rubble stone masonry, with painted plinth. Lantern has metal walkway around base, supported on moulded ashlar granite corbels or console brackets, with simple wrought-iron railings and moulded cast-iron posts. Conical metal cap to lantern, with lightning rod. Square-headed openings with raised ashlar granite block-and-start surrounds and integral sills with timber casement and replacement windows. Doorway to attached former lighthouse keeper's houses and ancillary structures. Connected to former lighthouse keeper's houses by single-storey structure to southwest. Set on Cionn Fhánada [Fanad Head] overlooking north entrance of Loch Súilí [Lough Swilly]. Painted rubble stone and rendered walls to site. Helicopter pad to southwest of site, built 1969.

This lighthouse forms a spectacular and elegant feature in a dramatic coastal setting on Cionn Fhánada [Fanad Head] overlooking north entrance of Loch Súilí [Lough Swilly]. It is well built, using local rubble stone, while the simple but effective ashlar granite block-and-start surrounds to the window openings and the corbelled metal walkway supported on elegant granite corbels and with attractive cast-iron posts, add interest to the otherwise stark form. Fanad Lighthouse replaced an earlier, smaller one close by that was built in 1815-17. Set in an exposed and isolated situation, this lighthouse and associated structures acts as a monument to the skill and dedication of its builders and of the commitment of the lighthouse keepers stationed here from the early nineteenth century until automation in recent decades. It has provided a familiar and welcome sight to generations of mariners and fishermen operating along the coast and forms a significant part of the maritime heritage of Dún na nGall [County Donegal].