Trevose Head Lighthouse Explained

Trevose Head Lighthouse
Location:Trevose Head
Cornwall
England
Coordinates:50.5492°N -5.0352°W
Yearbuilt:1847
Automated:1995
Construction:masonry tower
Shape:cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern attached to the keeper's house
Marking:white tower and lantern
Height:27m (89feet)
Focalheight:62m (203feet)
Lens:1st order fixed catadioptric (1847-1912); 1st order rotating 3-panel catadioptric (1912-2023)
Lightsource:LED lantern (2024-)
Intensity:279,000 candela
Range:18nmi
Characteristic:Fl W 7.5s.
Fogsignal:2 blasts every 30s.
Managingagent:Rural Retreats[1] [2]
Module:
Embed:yes
Designation1:Grade II
Designation1 Offname:Trevose Lighthouse
Designation1 Date:20 May 1988

Trevose Head Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Trevose Head on the north Cornish coast at lying to the WSW of Padstow[3] and was sited here as there was previously no light from Land's End to Lundy[4] and it would be visible from Cape Cornwall to Hartland Point.[5]

The tower is tall, and has a range of, but, on a clear night, you can just spot the light from Pendeen Lighthouse, over away.

History

Construction

The site was surveyed by order of the Trinity Board in July 1844 with a design submitted that November and approved February 1845. Building began in that May with the laying out of the road and contract entered into with the builders the next month.[4] During gales on 20–21 November 1846 scaffolding attached to the tower was blown away.[6]

After completion of the first tower, it was determined that the light was under certain circumstances liable to be mistaken by mariners. A second lower light[7] was therefore proposed and (the decision having been taken in June 1847) it was constructed, 50 feet in front of the first light, with a covered passage between them for use by the lighthouse keepers.[4] Only the first built 'high' light now remains.

Designed by engineer James Walker[7] the two original lights, 'high' and 'low', were constructed under the supervision of Henry Norris[7] by builders Jacob & Thomas Olver of Falmouth.[8] [4] [7] They were provided with a pair of first-order fixed optics by Henry Lépaute of Paris[7] and each had an oil lamp with 4 concentric wicks manufactured by Messrs. Wilkins & Co. of Long Acre.[4] [7]

The light was first lit on 1 December 1847.[7] [9]

Later developments

In 1882, under Engineer-in-Chief James Douglass, the 'high' light was changed to an occulting light, now with a six-wick lamp, and the 'low' light was put out of use.[10] Under the new arrangement the high light was eclipsed (for three seconds) three times in quick succession every minute.[11]

From 1911 a series of further improvements were made. First, the keepers' dwellings were upgraded. Then, in 1912 the light was again updated and the current rotating optic (weighing 3.6 tons) was installed.[12] At the same time, the addition of a red filter to the lamp meant that (as from 1 August 1912) the lighthouse displayed one short red flash every five seconds.[13]

Work also began on installing a fog signal: a 5-inch siren attached to a 36-foot-long acoustic horn, which came into service in 1913; it was nicknamed 'Lord Rayleigh's trumpet' after its designer, the eminent physicist and acoustician.[14] The trumpet and siren were built on to the roof of a new engine house, containing a pair of Hornsby oil engines, the air compressor, reservoirs and other equipment.

In 1920 a paraffin vapour burner replaced the oil lamp; it continued to show one red flash every 5 seconds.

The fog signal equipment all remained in service until 1963, when the trumpet and siren were replaced by a set of eight 'supertyfon' air horns mounted in a metal turret on top of the engine house. New diesel engines and Reavell compressors were provided. The light was electrified in 1974.

In 1995 the lighthouse was automated and became unmanned.[15] The red colour was removed from the light at this time and the rotation speed of the optic was slowed. By this stage the engine house was suffering cracking due to erosion; with automation a new fog signal was installed (a stack of electric emitters placed at the foot of the lighthouse) whereupon the old engine house was demolished.

The fog signal was decommissioned in 2012.[16] In 2023 the revolving optic was removed, having been in service for over 110 years.[17] It was replaced by a fixed LED lantern, which now produces the required flash. At the same time nominal range of the light was reduced from 21 to 18 nautical miles.[18]

The former keepers' cottages (arranged in two semi-detached pairs) are nowadays available to rent as holiday accommodation.[19]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. 2016-04-24.
  2. https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/trevose-head Trevose Head Lighthouse
  3. News: New Lighthouse on Trevose Head . The Sailors' Magazine . December 1847 . 284 . 2008-11-20 .
  4. News: The Illustrated London News . 16 October 1847 .
  5. News: Royal Cornwall Gazette. 3 November 1843 . 8 . Trevose Head is the only proper position for such lighthouse, as it is visible from all the coast between Cape Cornwall and Hartland Point .
  6. News: Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette. 26 November 1846 . 2 . The storm on Friday and Saturday last...much of the scaffolding attached to the Trevose Lighthouse was blown away .
  7. Web site: Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 2 . 21 December 1861 . 92, 93 .
  8. News: Royal Cornwall Gazette. 13 June 1845 . 3 . FALMOUTH EXPRESS...Messrs. Olver, builders, of this town, have taken a contract to build the intended Lighthouse on Trevose Head, near Padstow, which is to be completed in about 11 months. .
  9. News: Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. 11 December 1847 . 8 . The new light-house so long talked of on Trevose Head has at length been completed...The light was first exhibited on 1st instant. .
  10. Web site: Trevose Head Lighthouse . Trinity House . 4 April 2019.
  11. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/25148/page/4307 London Gazette, Issue 25148, Page 4307, 19 September 1882
  12. Book: Woodman . Richard . Wilson . Jane . The Lighthouses of Trinity House . 2002 . Thomas Reed . Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts. . 96–97.
  13. Book: Notices to Mariners, 1912 . 1913 . U.S.A. Navy Department. Bureau of Equipment: Hydrographic Office . Washington . 831.
  14. Book: Renton . Alan . Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals . 2001 . Whittles . Caithness, Scotland.
  15. Web site: Trinity House - Trevose Head . 4 November 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110529031230/http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses/lighthouse_list/trevose_head.html . 29 May 2011 . dmy-all .
  16. News: Trevose Head and Tater Du fog horns switched off . BBC News . 26 January 2012 . 4 April 2019.
  17. Briggs . Paul . Cornish lighthouses given upgrade . Flash - The Trinity House Journal . Spring 2024 . 40 . 16-19 . 14 May 2024.
  18. Web site: 22/2023 Trevose Head Lighthouse (Trinity House Notice to Mariners, 31/08/2023) . Trinity House . 14 May 2024.
  19. Web site: Trevose Head Lighthouse . cornwall guide . 14 May 2016 . 4 April 2019.