Former light house buildings, Copeland Island Bird Observatory, Light House Island, (off) Co Down

Largely ruined remains of a (largely) early 19th century lighthouse and lighthouse keepers dwellings, abandoned c.1888 with two of the former dwellings later converted to a hostel for birdwatchers. The complex is located on the northeast of the small Light House Island, one of the Copeland Islands, roughly 6km off the northeast coast of County Down. The island, an important site for breeding seabirds and waders, is now a Designated Area of Special Scientific Interest. The whole complex is set within a walled enclosure which is entered via a vehicle gateway to the W side, which has tall square pyramidal-capped pillars and a flat arch, but no gates. The pillars are harled as are the tall walls of the enclosure. To the S side of the enclosure is a single-storey U-shaped building, originally two dwellings, but considerably altered and extended in relatively recent times and now a hostel for birdwatchers visiting the island. The building has a shallow pitched gabled roof of corrugated metal and the walls are rendered. The window openings (most of which appear to be of recent insertion) have modern timber frames. Set to the immediate N side of the hostel (enclosed within the 'U' as it were) is a large single-storey with harled walls, and a shallow-pitched roof similar to the main building. To the N side of the hostel, on higher ground, is the circular stump of the former lighthouse, which is constructed in dressed granite. A number of the blocks which made up the rest of the lighthouse shaft are piled up around the stump. On the N side of the enclosure is a ruined rectangular one and a half-storey gabled building with a shallow projection to the SE corner. This building, said by visitors to have orginially contained a pair of semi-detached dwellings, but possibly later used as a store, has harled walls with small flat-arched windows and flat-arched doorways. A large part of the roof, which was stone-built, has collapsed, including the northeast corner, where there used to be a platform which held a large brazier- the original 18th century 'lighthouse'. To the immediate W and NW of the there is a large, roughly rectangular, area surrounded by a low rubble wall, believed to have been a garden. There is a gateway to the SE corner of this area. A short distance to the NE of the main enclosure is the remains of a concrete foundations which belonged to a now dismantled WWII radar mast. Close to the S coast of the island are the ruins of a small rectangular rubble-built dwelling, which is said to have once acted as a 'public house' of sorts.