3 minute read
Dark Thoughts
A town in the west of Ireland has come up with a plan to tackle light pollution.
Renders: Dark Source/Mayo Dark Skies 2023
The town of Newport in County Mayo, Ireland has a problem. A problem with light. Light pollution to be precise.
The identification of the issue is partly due to its proximity to Mayo Dark Sky Park, a project with gold tier international accreditation for its dark skies. It’s free from artificial light and excess light pollution at night.
What’s interesting in Newport is that it is a community-led project. The town had an issue with a couple of lighting installations that had flood-lit heritage buildings so the group took it upon themselves as a community to put together a lighting master plan with expertise from lighting design practice Dark Source.
Saint Patrick's Church is a magnificent heritage church which is on top of the hill where it can be seen from the surrounding countryside. The previous lighting was very invasive and the group wanted to improve that and create beautiful experiences that could still be the pride and joy of the community.
The church is over 100 years old and has been lit by previous ‘vulgar’ spotlights that sprayed lighting into the sky.
The plan is to eventually replace it with a scheme that minimises spill but shows the beauty of the church. The Heritage Council has been helpful to Newport for a long time and it originally funded the lighting masterplan.
More recently, through the community Heritage Grant, the body funded the first phase of a pilot scheme to get a professional lighting designer – in this case a Dark Source – to put together a technical lighting specification and arrange architectural drawings.
The idea is to not only get some light concepts but also install some physical lighting to show the public how the lighting could be improved, and how it can balance the needs of the community with the environmental needs and create something beautiful at night. The images on this page have been created by Dark Source.
There is growing realisation that dark skies are important for biodiversity.
The pioneering Wild Nephin National Park, known jointly as Mayo Dark Sky Park, in the west of Ireland, won a Gold Tier standard of International Dark Sky Park in 2016.
It’s no easy feat: The dark sky certification process is modelled on conservation programmes, such as UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves.
A Gold Tier award is the highest possible accolade, meaning that Mayo is now internationally recognised as one of the best places in the world to view the wonders of the night.
Mayo Dark Sky Park is a great example of a collaborative project between our communities, National Parks & Wildlife Service, Coillte, GMIT Mayo Campus, South West Mayo Development and Mayo County Council.
It’s a strong partnership formed between local people and state agencies who worked together on this project. The process of preparing a dark-sky application took over two years to complete from initial research to final documentation.
