Light House, Mew Island, Donaghadee, Co. Down

Mew Island Lighthouse Complex

This offshore lighthouse complex was built between 1882 and 1884 on Mew Island, a small rocky island less than half a mile at its greatest length, situated three miles off the northeast coast of County Down, approximately four miles north of Donaghadee. The complex comprises a 37-metre tall lighthouse tower and several attendant single-storey buildings, including a lighthouse keeper's quarters, a fog horn engine house, and a former gasworks compound, arranged roughly along an east-west axis.

The lighthouse itself is circular in plan, consisting of a tall tapered tower 37 metres in height, topped with a glazed lantern. The tower is finished in painted render with small flat-headed windows at each of four levels on the north and south faces, and additional windows to the east and west of the uppermost level. These windows are fitted with timber sash frames, some containing one pane over one, others two over two. Access is via a narrow linking corridor on the west side. The large multi-sided lantern is almost entirely glazed except for its lowest section, which is clad in painted iron panels with simple geometric decoration. The lantern features a sloping concave roof rising to a central cupola, and is surrounded at its lower level by a walkway with iron railings.

The lighthouse, keeper's quarters, and engine house are arranged in a roughly symmetrical H-shaped plan, with the lighthouse linked to both via narrow corridors. The lighthouse keeper's quarters occupy a small plain single-storey gabled building, rectangular in plan with a small off-centre flat-roofed porch to the west. The walls are finished in painted render with a slated roof featuring rendered parapets, bracketed eaves, and two symmetrically arranged rendered chimneys. The porch has plain sheeted doors to both north and south faces and a small two-over-two sash window to the west. The main walls contain two flat arched windows with six-over-six timber sash frames to the left of the porch and another to the right, with a similar window to the left of the east elevation. To the right of the east elevation are two more windows. A flat-roofed projection on the east side (added after 1964) has three flat-headed windows to its south elevation, with PVC frames, one largely louvred. The link to the north has a timber sheeted door to the left and a small two-over-two sash window to the right.

To the west of the keeper's quarters is a small yard enclosed by tall rendered walls to the north and south, with a single-storey shed to the west. This shed is finished in painted render on its north, south, and east faces, with rubble stone forming the west façade (which largely comprises the east wall of the former gasworks compound). The slated roof has a single pitch with rendered parapets. The east elevation contains three unevenly spaced timber sheeted doors and two windows with timber sash frames—one six-over-six and one two-over-two.

The engine house occupies the eastern end of the complex. It is broadly similar to the keeper's quarters, being rectangular in plan with a slated gabled roof and painted render walls. It is abutted on the west by the link to the lighthouse, on the north by an octagonal c.1970 look-out tower (with an oversailing control room, similar to those found at small aerodromes), and on the south by a slightly lower gabled projection with brick quoins. The west elevation, to the right of the link, has a large flat-headed doorway with timber sheeted double doors. The south projection has a smaller segmental-headed doorway with brick lintel and similar door. The north gable and south gable of the projection each have a six-over-six sash window, with two more windows to the east elevation.

The former gasworks compound occupies the western end of the complex. It consists of a large irregularly shaped yard enclosed by a tall rubble stone wall with castellated rendered coping and brick quoins. A single-storey gabled building on the west side of the yard is slightly larger than the keeper's quarters. It has a long lean-to to the west and a lower gabled projection to the north. The front and south elevations are finished in painted render, with the remaining elevations in rubble stone with brick dressings to openings. The slated roof bears a small metal flèche to the south of the ridge centre. The front elevation contains three tall timber windows with hopper openings (likely replacements) and two doorways with timber sheeted doors and large two-pane fanlights. The east elevation of the projection has a small flat-roofed porch with a door as previously described. The south elevation of the main portion contains two similar tall windows and another doorway to the left (at the side of the lean-to). Two brick-dressed segmental-headed windows filled with glass blocks are located on the west side of the lean-to. On the main portion to the left of the lean-to are two more windows set at differing levels; the left window matches those on the front, while the right has been adapted to allow access for flues from internal machinery. A small window in the north gable of the projection has been blocked up.

To the south of the gasworks yard is a single-storey flat-roofed rendered shed added after 1964, with three doorways to its north elevation—two pedestrian doors and a larger (though lower) doorway to the right without a door. A similar but smaller shed stands at the northeast corner of the yard with a pedestrian doorway to its south face. To the west of the larger shed is a vehicle entrance flanked by stone piers with a modern replacement metal gate. The yard contains two, possibly three, large circular gasometer pits, with the remainder largely reclaimed by grass.

South of the complex is a helicopter landing pad. Beyond this are several small single-storey one-to-two-roomed buildings with whitewashed facades and gabled roofs, most likely dwellings built for workmen during the lighthouse's construction, as recorded in contemporary newspaper reports. More structures of this type may originally have existed.

The lighthouse became fully automated in 1996. In 2014 the optic was removed and the structure converted to solar power. The optic was subsequently housed in a purpose-built structure on the Titanic walkway in Belfast, which opened in 2018.