Rare Lighthouse Lens To Take Pride Of Place On Belfast Waterfront

31st July 2016

An artist's impression of Hall McKnight's winning design for the Mew Island Optic on Belfast's waterfront Credit: Hall McKnight

#MewIslandOptic - A rare lighthouse lens that helped guide ships into Belfast Lough for more than a century is to get a new home on the city's waterfront, as the Belfast Telegraph reports.

The optic from Mew Island Lighthouse, one of Ireland's tallest lights, will be housed in a much more accessible structure designed by architects Hall McKnight.

The firm fended off 11 other tenders to win the commission by the Titanic Foundation for the new monument to Northern Ireland's seafaring traditions, one that's intended to last for at least another 100 years.

With a design echoing a lighthouse lantern room, the structure will house what's believed by many to be the largest Fresnel lens, produced in Paris by master glassmakers in 1887.

The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.

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MacDara Conroy

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