Maidens Lighthouse

The Maidens or Hulin rocks are two islets and several reefs in the North Channel off County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

The Eastern Maiden or Southern Rock lies about 9 km from the coast at Ballygalley and 20 Kilometers from Larne. The West Maiden or Northern Rock is less than a kilometre further out.  Lighthouses were originally built on both rocks, the West Maiden was abandoned in 1903 and the East Maiden was automated in 1977.

In the mid 1800’s the daughter of Hugh Redmond, the keeper at one of the lighthouses fell in love with the assistant keeper at the other light. When weather permitted, they visited each other by boat, but the weather can’t always be relied upon to smooth the course of true love and the lovers resorted to semaphore flags for the 19^th century equivalent of text messaging each other across the channel. The tryst was frowned upon by both sets of parents and eventually the couple eloped in the dead of night and fled to nearby Carrickfergus where they were married.

Location:     54°55.748′ North, 05°43.669′ West.

Elevation:    29 m

Character:   Fl (3) W 15s 24h

Range:         43 km