• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Michele Neylon :: Pensieri

Michele Neylon :: Pensieri

Technology, Marketing, Domains, Thoughts

A Quirky Bit of Irish History

July 10, 2022 by Michele Neylon Leave a Comment

Ireland was officially neutral during the Second World War and the Irish government referred to the war as “the emergency”.

But part of the island of Ireland was at war and physically we are very close to the UK, so there was always a risk that German pilots could get confused about which country they were over.

And so the Irish government set up the coastal watch to keep an eye on our coasts. Look out posts were built along the coast and these were accompanied by over 80 of these gigantic Eire signs. The numbers, which were added later, were helpful navigation aids for Allied pilots, as the Irish government shared the locations with the Allies. (So much for being neutral! – though Irish neutrality has always been little more than a fig leaf)

The signs measured 12 metres by 6 and used up to 150 tons of stone. Considering the locations of many of them aren’t exactly easy to get to that alone is a feat! The one below (no. 74) is in County Donegal:

It’s one of the preserved ones. Others were either covered over or simply dismantled for the stone.

There’s some interesting reading on the signs here and here.

Related Posts:

  • Irish Government's 2022 St Patrick's Day Video
    Irish Government's 2022 St Patrick's Day Video
  • Irish Accents are Insanely Diverse
    Irish Accents are Insanely Diverse
  • Irish Mensa Weirdness (Again!)
    Irish Mensa Weirdness (Again!)
  • Mensa - Lies or Ignorance?
    Mensa - Lies or Ignorance?
  • Irish Charity Christmas Cards
    Irish Charity Christmas Cards
  • A Few Resolutions for Lockdown 2.0
    A Few Resolutions for Lockdown 2.0

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: donegal, history, ireland

Michele is founder and CEO of Irish hosting provider and domain name registrar Blacknight. Read More…

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Newsletter Signup

Join my newsletter

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!

dotblog founder

Most Recent Posts

Planning 2023’s Planting

The Last Blockbuster’s SuperBowl Ad

American English vs English

Aslan in the 1980s

Hans Zimmer on 60 Minutes


Mastodon

Archives

  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Pages

  • About Me
  • About This Site
  • Archives
  • Comments Policy
  • Contact Me
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy

Blogroll

  • Paul Savage – BlackDog SEO
  • Gordon Hudson
  • Technology.ie Podcast
  • Damien Mulley
  • My Mastodon

Footer

Site hosted in Ireland by Blacknight - Content copyright Michele Neylon

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in