Chaine Memorial, Chaine Memorial Road, Larne, Co Antrim

Chaine Memorial

An unusual and striking lighthouse in Celtic or Irish Romanesque Revival style, forming a prominent local landmark on the shore of Larne Lough.

The structure is a tall circular stone tower designed in the form of an early Irish ecclesiastical round tower, accessed by a stone-built causeway and exterior stone steps. The cylindrical body is constructed of rock-faced snecked granite with visible entasis, dressed with ashlar granite. The base is battered ashlar granite in regular courses on a shaped base course, surrounded by a concrete plinth. The conical cap comprises ashlar granite in regular courses, topped by a copper finial.

The entrance, which faces south-west, has a semi-circular arch with sloping jambs in early Irish style. The doorway contains a rectangular ledged timber door of seven boards, wider at the bottom than the top, set beneath a seven-board timber tympanum; it is fitted with a large modern steel bolt. Above the doorway is a polished granite inscription plaque surmounted by a drip moulding. A small rectangular-headed window in early Irish style, formed by dressed stones of irregular size, sits above this plaque. Seven similar windows are distributed around the tower at various positions. At the tower's top, below the stone eaves course, are three semi-circular arched openings with sloping jambs, facing north, south and west, filled with darkened render. A larger segmental-headed window, glazed and of later date, faces east, replacing an original semi-circular opening. All are linked at cill level by a dressed string course. A lightning conductor and two runs of iron trunking are attached to the tower at its base.

The causeway is constructed of basalt boulders, partly covered with concrete, with an intermediate iron-laid section. It is lined by tubular iron railings with two rungs on each side. Concrete steps lead up to the entrance, contained by chamfered granite copings flanking a basalt rubble segmental archway that connects the causeway to the tower base. The railings continue around the tower doorway and through the doorframe.

The tower was built in 1887 by public subscription to designs by Samuel P. Close as a memorial to James Chaine, who died in 1885 and had been instrumental in developing Larne's modern harbour. It was constructed largely from Mourne granite shipped from Annalong. Although initially intended as a lighthouse, it was not equipped for that purpose until 1897, when the Commissioners of Irish Lights took it over. At that time they enlarged the eastern window at the top of the tower to accommodate a red and white sectored navigational light, sealed the remaining three windows internally, fitted wooden shutters to the outside, and built granite blocks flanking the steps with an arch underneath. They also laid a concrete pathway on the causeway and provided it with iron railings. The lighting equipment was supplied by Chance Brothers of Smethwick near Birmingham. The light was first exhibited on 1st July 1899. The tower was converted to electricity on 12th September 1935, making it the second lighthouse in Ireland to be so powered, after Donaghadee. The electrical system was entirely replaced with modern equipment in 1987.

The causeway was deliberately breached and spanned by a wooden decked bridge in 1953 to prevent seaweed accumulation on the beach; this was filled in again during the 1980s. The conical cap was repointed in 1954 and again in 1988. The lantern windows were built up on the exterior in a recessed manner and rendered with dark mortar in 1988.

The inscription above the entrance reads: "This tower and the road leading to it was erected by the contributions of every class in this mixed community irrespective of creed or party, all cordially united in esteem and affection for the memory of James Chaine of Ballycraigy and Cairncastle, Co Antrim, who represented the County in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland from February 1874 till 4th May 1885. His early and lamented death in the 44th year of his life deprived his native county of one who had worked indefatigably for its interests on the Harbour at Larne, establishing its connection with Great Britain and the United States of America and with the inland parts of the County. Si Monumentum requiris circumspice."

The tower stands beyond the shoreline of Larne Lough, reached by its causeway which extends from a grassy roadside area out into the Lough, leaving the tower surrounded by water at high tide.