Excuse the ugly sod in the foreground.Came across this photo taken at the end of August 2004 when Shels were playing Deportivo in the Champions League.
Behind is the famous Torre de Hercules lighthouse, claimed to be the oldest lighthouse in the world, having guided ships past the north west coast of Spain since the second century or the eighth century AD whoever you believe. The tower was extensively refurbished in the 1700s and there are great views from the top, though not of A Coruna itself which lies over the brow of the hill.
THE PHAROS OF CORUNNA.
"The Pharos is situated at the extremity of the peninsula on
which the town of Corunna stands, and is of inestimable value as a
beacon to mariners ; but of still greater interest to the eye of the
traveller, is the fact of enclosing within its massive walls one of the
most interesting monuments of antiquity, the Pharos of Herculesthe
oldest existing specimen of this kind in Europe, and amongst
the very few now anywhere to be found.
L' It was in existence at the beginning of the fifth century, and
was intended originally for the same purpose as it now serves,
namely, a s&naZ for sh@s going to England !
" So advantageous was it considered, that in 1684 the Consuls
of England, Holland, and Flanders, entreated the Spanish authorities
to have the building repaired, and stated that their governments
would, at their own expense, defray the cost of keeping a light
on it.
. . " The original Pharos was a square, hollow tower, surmounted
by a rotunda~which was crowned by a large flag bearing eviclent
marks of the long-continued action of fire on its suiface. At each
of the corners there was a small square turret.
" An external winding staircase led to the top, and permitted
ingress to its internal apartments through the small apertures still
#existing in the tower.
lL A small square buttress at each corner, seems to have
supported the stair or external winding passage at the angles, and
the grooves in the masonry still show the position which such
originally occupied. We read of a similar mode of access being
,employed on the exterior of the celebrated Pharos of Alexandria.
L i The general architecture and stone work does not point to a
period older than the Romans. The masonry, composed of stones
of comparatively small size, is cemented together by a lime-concrete
similar to that employed, if not introduced, by this people. The
height :of the Tower from the base to the rotunda at the top, was 82
royal Spanish feet, and the rotunda itself was 11 more, making in
:all abo~zt 132 feet English. It was 3r feet broad on each side, and
in the interior were the walls crossing in the centre, each 4% feet
in thickness. The Tower was divided into chambers, or apartments,
by three stone floors, originally without any apertures in them, I
so that'these apartments could only be entered from without. The
outer winding stairs having been renloved (at some period long
prior to the date to which we now refer, 1797), apertures were
made in the stone floors, and ladders leading from one flight to
another, enabled persons to ascend to the top from within. The
staircase is supposed to have been pulled down to build a convent
in the neighbourhood, but the precise time of this demolition is
not known. When De Malaga wrote his description of Galicia in
1549, this staircase did not exist.
'( The origin of the original tower and its name are involved
in obscurity. Galician tradition assigns it to the workmanship of.
Hercules himself. Some characters, scarcely legible, on one of
the stones (says the writer of a Spanish document), state that it
was erected in honour of one of the Czesars.
"The early writers upon Irish history have made frequent ,
allusion to this ancient strtlcture as the Tuir Breoghan. (c)
lL The Spanish Government in 1797 had the ancient Pharos
enveloped in the present modern granite building. It is a hanclsome
square tower, built of close-grained white granite, and not
only contains within its massive walls the original Pharos, but is
made to resemble it as much as possible, and on its exterior a
projecting band of masonry exhibits the line of the original external
staircase. ((2') Giolla Meavin, an Irish poet, who lived about A.D,
(c) OFOS~UtSh,e Geographer, states that the Pl~arosw as built. by the
Tyrian Hercules. Other authorities ascribe its origin to the Phcenicians at
Bragantia. Irish writer8 called this " Watch Tower" Tur-Breoghain, or Tile
Tower of Breoghan," who was a famous warrior-king of North Spain, and
uncle of Milesius.
(a?) This Lighthouse is about 1 mile S. W. of the town of Corunna, in N.
lat. 43" 22", W. long. 8" 23' 30", vith a revolving light elevated 336 feet above
sea level, and is seen from 20 miles distance at sea. It marks the common
approach to the harbours of Corunna and Perrol, and encloses within its
massive walls the Pharos of Hercules, the oldest building of the kind in
Europe.---" Gazeteer of the World," vol. iv, p. 698.
1072, in a poem called 'The Race of Kings ;' the Annals of the
. ,
Four Masters ; and the Book of Ballymote ; make reference to the
'Pharos and to many traditions assigned to it, such as its being
built as a Watch Tower by Breogin, the' son of Braha, who is also
said to have been the founder of the City of Bragantia." So far,
Sir W. Wilde.
Haverty refers to this very ancient structure in his account of
the wanderings of the Gadelians, and of the voyage of Ith, the son
Breogan and uncle of Milesius, to Ireland. He says : " About the
time of the destruction of Troy, Brath, (e) the son of Deagath or
Deatha, and nineteenth in descent from Fenius Farsaidh, led a
fresh expedition from this last-named place (viz., Gothia, or Galatia,
or Gethulia) to 'the north of the world, to the islands ploughing
the Tarrian Sea (Mediterranean or Tyrrhenian) with his fleet.'
He passed by Creid (Crete), Sicil (Sicily), and the Columns or
Pillars of Hercules, the necplus ultra of the ancients, to Espain, the
Peninsular ; " and here he conquered a certain territory, his son,
Breogan or Bregond, succeeding him in the command. Breoghan,
or Brigus, as he is also called, was King of Galicia, Andalusia,
Murcia, Castile and Portugal-all of which he conquered. He
bzlilt Breoghan's Tower, or Bragantia in Galicia, and the City of
Brkansa or Braganza in Portugal, called after him ; and the
kingdom of Castile was then also called after him Brigia. It is
considereg that Castile itself was so called from the figure of a
.castle which Brigus bore for his arms on a banner. The city which
our wanderers built in Spain was, as we have seen, called Brigantia,
believed to be Betanzos in Gallicia, and from a ZofQ Tower, erected
on the coast by Breogan, it is said that his son, Ith, discovered
Eri, or Ireland, as far as the land of Luimnech (as the country at
the mouth of the Shannon was called), on a winter's evening. Ith
. -
was of an adveriturous spirit, and, no doubt, discovered the coast
of Ireland, not of course from the Tower of Breogan, which was
impossible, but after having sailed thither in the search of the land,
- -
(e) Brath was born in Gothia. Remembering the Druids' prediction that
c c their journeyings would not cease until they arrived at the Western Isle of
Europe," he departed with a numerous fleet from Gothia, and, after some time,
he landed on the coast of Spain, and by strong hand settled himself and his
colony in Galicia, in the north of that country.
which, according to the traditions of his race, the children of Niul
were destined to possess. df)
The foregoing account of the celebrated Pharos of Corunna,
is extremely interesting, and although of more remote antiquity, it
bears some points of reser;lzbZance to the Tower of Hooke, of which we
more immediately treat. It will be noticed that the Pharos is
considered a valuable beacon 2'0 mariners at the present day, and
was originally inJendec1 for the purpose of sewing as a signal for
sA$s ; so likewise our Irish Pharos. About the same time that the
governments of England, Holland, and Flanders, undertook the
cast of keeping a light on the Pharos of Corunna, namely, in 1684,
we find the government at home building and repairing the Lighthouses
at Howth, Island hkgee, the Head of Kinsale, and the
Tower of Hooke. The latter is also built of limestone ancl limeconcrete,
and in this bears a resemblance to the Pharos of Corunna,
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