:Spit Bank Lighthouse

Though Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell went blind in 1802 (before he turned 23),{{cite journal|url=http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/alexander-mitchell-1780-1868-belfasts-blind-engineer/ |journal=History Ireland |issue= 3 | volume= 14 |author= Jim Blaney |title=Alexander Mitchell (1780–1868): Belfast's blind engineer |date=June 2006 |access-date=23 February 2016}} he patented the screw-pile mooring in 1833,{{cite book|title=The Repertory of Patent Inventions, And Other Discoveries and Improvements in Arts, Manufacturers, and Agriculture, July–December 1847|date=1948|publisher=Repertory of Arts and Manufacturers|page=116|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwILAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA116}} and built the first screw-pile lighthouses in 1838.{{cite book|title=The Repertory of Patent Inventions, And Other Discoveries and Improvements in Arts, Manufacturers, and Agriculture, July–December 1847|date=1948|publisher=Repertory of Arts and Manufacturers|page=118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwILAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA118}} These lighthouses included the Maplin Sands Light (1838) and Wyre Light (1839) in England.{{cite web|url=https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/building-of-the-month/spitbank-lighthouse-cork-harbour-county-cork/ |publisher=Buildings of Ireland: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage |title=Building of the Month – November 2009 - Spit Bank Lighthouse, Cobh, County Cork |date=November 2009 |access-date=23 February 2016}}

Based from Belfast, Mitchell moved to Cobh (then called Queenstown) in 1851 to supervise the foundation works for a lighthouse on the Spit Bank.{{cite journal|url=http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/spitbank-lighthouse/ |journal=History Ireland |author= Jane Wales |title=Spitbank Lighthouse |issue= 2 | volume = 18 |date=April 2010 |access-date=23 February 2016}}{{cite web |author=Shea Tomkins |url=https://www.irelandsown.ie/2015/10/13/the-blind-irish-engineer-who-designed-lighthouses/ |title=The Blind Irish Engineer who Designed Lighthouses |publisher=Ireland's Own |date=13 October 2015 |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306012658/https://www.irelandsown.ie/2015/10/13/the-blind-irish-engineer-who-designed-lighthouses/ |url-status=dead }} Located in a relative shallow between Spike Island and Cove Fort, the lighthouse replaced an unlit buoy which marked a turn required by shipping to follow Cork Harbour's main navigable channel.{{cite web|url=http://afloat.ie/item/23229-mainternance-of-the-spit-bank-lighthouse-cork-harbour |title=Spit Bank Lighthouse, Cobh, Cork Harbour Undergoes Maintenance Work |publisher=Afloat.ie |date=10 September 2013 |access-date=23 February 2016 }} Despite his blindness, with assistance from his son and grandson, Mitchell reportedly supervised some of the work directly. Contemporary accounts record how he was personally involved in construction of a number of his structures, transiting to the work sites in small boats, crawling on planks and examining joints by touch. While living in the area, he also befriended logician George Boole – who was based at Cork's university.

The structure's platform is supported by nine cast-iron screwpiles {{convert|60|cm|ft}} in diameter and driven approximately {{convert|5.2|m|ft}} into the sea-bed.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yiNWAAAAcAAJ&q=spitbank+lighthouse+cork&pg=PA6 |title=Mitchell's patent screw piles and moorings, and their applications |author= George Henry Saunders |date=1855 |publisher= Offices of the Screw-Pile and Mooring Co |access-date=23 February 2016}} The main light and octagonal sheet-iron lighthouse was designed by the engineer to the Commissioners of Irish Lights, George Halpin.{{cite web|url=http://www.dia.ie/works/view/49247/building/CO.+CORK,+SPIT+BANK+LIGHTHOUSE |publisher=Dictionary of Irish Architects |title= County Cork, Spit Bank Lighthouse |access-date=23 February 2016}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jMJXAAAAYAAJ&q=spitbank+lighthouse+cork&pg=RA1-PA235 |title=Report of the commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition and management of lights, buoys and beacons |publisher=G.E. Eyre & Spottiswoode |date=1861 |access-date=23 February 2016 |author= Royal Commission on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons}} With the foundation work laid relatively quickly,{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCRPAAAAYAAJ&q=spitbank+lighthouse+queenstown+mitchell&pg=PA537 |title=The Builder, Volume 9 |chapter=Miscellanea – Queenstown Harbour |date=1851 |access-date=2016-02-23}} the lighthouse was first lit in 1853.

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Located less than a half-mile from shore, and with no permanent accommodation, the light was managed by keepers who transited from the nearby town of Cobh. A foghorn was added in the late 19th century, and the light updated and automated in the 20th century. In use for more than 150 years, and one of only three remaining screw-pile lighthouses in Ireland, it was repaired following a collision in 1978, and renovated in 2013.{{Cite rowlett|irlsw|access-date=23 February 2016}}{{cite web|url= https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3666632 | title = Spitbank Lighthouse under repair |date= September 2013}}

As of 2016 it remained a working light, with a focal plane of {{convert|10|m|ft}} and white and red light lenses – depending on direction of approach. The Port of Cork uses the Spit Bank Lighthouse as a boundary marker for the compulsory pilotage of large vessels entering the middle harbour.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cBNuAAAAIAAJ&q=spitbank+lighthouse+pilotage |title=Brown's Nautical Almanac: Daily Tide Tables |author= R. Ingram-Brown |publisher=Brown, Son & Ferguson |date=1998 |access-date=23 February 2016 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.passagewestmonkstown.ie/cork-harbour.asp |title=Passage West and Monkstown, Cork Harbour |publisher=Passagewestmonkstown.ie |access-date=23 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522204900/http://www.passagewestmonkstown.ie/cork-harbour.asp |archive-date=22 May 2015 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.portofcork.ie/index.cfm/page/noticetomariners?twfId=1666&download=true |title=Port Of Cork – Notice to Mariners |publisher=PortofCork.ie (Google Cache Archive) |access-date=23 February 2016 }}{{dead link|date=February 2024|bot=medic}}

• List of lighthouses in Ireland

{{Commons category|Spit Bank Lighthouse}}

File:Faro spit bank.jpg.{{cite book| last1= Eugenio Ribera| first1 = José | title= Puentes de hierro económicos, muelles y faros sobre palizadas y pilotes mecánicos| url =http://fondosdigitales.us.es/fondos/libros/5869/5/puentes-de-hierro-economicos-muelles-y-faros-sobre-palizadas-y-pilotes-metalicos-por-don-jose-eugenio-ribera/| date = 1895| publisher = Librería Editorial de Bailly-Bailliere e Hijos| location = Madrid|pages = 299 (Lámina XIII)}}]]

{{Reflist}}

{{Cork Harbour}}

{{Irish lighthouses}}

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Category:Lighthouses in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Lighthouses completed in 1853

Category:Buildings and structures in County Cork

Category:Lighthouses on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage