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Thomas Matthews (engineer)
Sir Thomas Matthews (8 August 1849 – 13 January 1930) was a British civil engineer, who was a notable builder of lighthouses. He was the brother of Sir William Matthews, also a prominent civil engineer. During the late 19th and early 20th century Thomas Matthews was the Engineer-in-Chief of Trinity House. Biography Thomas Matthews was born in Penzance, Cornwall, where he was the son of the Borough Surveyor, John Matthews. From 1868 to 1871 he assisted his father in providing drinking water for Penzance and the sea and harbour defences. For the following two years he practised as an architect and surveyor in Penzance and in 1874, he entered the employment of the United Kingdom's lighthouse service, Trinity House, as an assistant engineer. He succeeded Sir James Nicholas Douglass as Engineer-in-Chief when the latter retired in 1892. Matthews went on to design over a dozen lighthouses for Trinity House. He also worked on illumination systems, notably a lamp designed to bur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Penzance
Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the shelter of Mount's Bay, the town faces south-east onto the English Channel, is bordered to the west by the fishing port of Newlyn, to the north by the civil parish of Madron and to the east by the civil parish of Ludgvan. The civil parish includes the town of Newlyn and the villages of Mousehole, Paul, Gulval, and Heamoor. Granted various royal charters from 1512 onwards and incorporated on 9 May 1614, it has a population of 21,200 (2011 census). Penzance's former main street Chapel Street has a number of interesting features, including the Egyptian House, The Admiral Benbow public house (home to a real life 1800s smuggling gang and allegedly the inspiration for ''Treasure Island''s "Admiral Benbow Inn"), the Union Hotel (includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berry Head Lighthouse
Berry Head Lighthouse is an active lighthouse, located at the end of Berry Head near Brixham in Devon, which has been in operation since 4 May 1906. Berry Head is reputedly the shortest lighthouse in Great Britain, but also one of the highest, being only tall, but above mean sea level. It was also said to be the ''deepest'' because the optic was originally turned by a weight falling down a deep shaft. History The lighthouse was designed and built for Trinity House by its chief engineer Thomas Matthews. When first lit, the incandescent lamp was fuelled by oil gas (which was purchased from the Great Western Railway at Exeter and stored in large external tanks on site). The lamp was placed within a revolving third-order dioptric optic, which gave a double white flash every 15 seconds. It had a range of . Berry Head was classed as an unwatched light; it was managed by an attendant, who brought it into service each evening. In addition, the clockwork mechanism which turne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1930 Deaths
Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 193 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard. * March 28 – Pertinax is assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, who storm the imperial palace. The Empire is auctioned of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1849 Births
Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, enters in the Hungarian capitals, Buda and Pest. The Hungarian government and parliament flee to Debrecen. * January 8 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Romanian armed groups massacre 600 unarmed Hungarian civilians, at Nagyenyed.Hungarian HistoryJanuary 8, 1849 And the Genocide of the Hungarians of Nagyenyed/ref> * January 13 ** Second Anglo-Sikh War – Battle of Tooele: British forces retreat from the Sikhs. ** The Colony of Vancouver Island is established. * January 21 ** General elections are held in the Papal States. ** Hungarian Revolution of 1848: Battle of Nagyszeben – The Hungarian army in Transylvania, led by Josef Bem, is defeated by the Austrians, led by Anton Puchner. * January 23 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Medi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Withernsea Lighthouse
Withernsea Lighthouse is an inland lighthouse that stands in the middle of the town of Withernsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The lighthouse stands 127 feet (38 m) high and took 18 months to build between 1892 and 1894. Formerly owned and run by Trinity House of London, it ceased operation on 1 July 1976 and is now used as a museum. History The lighthouse is a surprising distance (nearly ) from the sea front. At the time it was built, there was nothing between it and the sea but sand dunes, and fear of coastal erosion led to it being positioned well back. The lantern atop the tower and the Fresnel lens optic within it both came 'second-hand' from the old North Lighthouse at High Whitby, which had been decommissioned shortly before the building work at Withernsea began. Initially, the light was provided by an eight-wick paraffin lamp, which was set within the fixed first-order catadioptric optic (which had been designed and manufactured by Chance Brothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strumble Head Lighthouse
Strumble Head Lighthouse stands on Ynys Meicel (from Welsh: St. Michael's Island), also known as Strumble Head, a rocky island at the northwest corner of Pencaer area, five miles west of the town of Fishguard, in northern Pembrokeshire, Wales. History The present lighthouse was erected in 1908, but the first proposal to build a lighthouse here was made in 1825 by Trinity House. The lighthouse replaces a light-vessel previously moored in the south of Cardigan Bay. The lighthouse is similar in construction to Skokholm Lighthouse and is among the last lighthouses to be built in Britain. The circular stone tower is 55 ft high and still contains the original lantern complete with Fresnel lens manufactured by Chance Brothers, using a mercury bath as a low-friction bearing. Illumination was updated from paraffin to electricity in 1949. The Lighthouse was fully electrified in 1965. The Lighthouse was fully automated in 1980 and is now monitored from the Trinity House Operation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spurn Head
Spurn is a narrow sand tidal island located off the tip of the coast of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England that reaches into the North Sea and forms the north bank of the mouth of the Humber Estuary. It was a spit with a semi-permanent connection to the mainland, but a storm in 2013 made the road down to the end of Spurn impassable to vehicles at high tide. The island is over long, almost half the width of the estuary at that point, and as little as wide in places. The southernmost tip is known as Spurn Head or Spurn Point and is the home to an RNLI lifeboat station and two disused lighthouses. It forms part of the civil parish of Easington. Spurn Head covers above high water and of foreshore. It has been owned since 1960 by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is a designated national nature reserve, heritage coast and is part of the Humber Flats, Marshes and Coast Special Protection Area. History Spurn Head was known to classical authors, such as Ptolemy as ''Oce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Mary's Lighthouse
St Mary's Lighthouse is on the tiny St Mary's (or Bait) Island, just north of Whitley Bay on the coast of North East England. The small rocky tidal island is linked to the mainland by a short concrete causeway which is submerged at high tide. History The first light here was in the priory - an 11th-century monastic chapel, whose monks maintained a lantern on the tower to warn passing ships of the danger of the rocks. A lighthouse was built here in 1664 using stone from the priory. This was demolished when the current lighthouse and adjacent keepers' cottages were built in 1898 by the John Miller company of Tynemouth, using 645 blocks of stone and 750,000 bricks. A first-order 'bi-valve' rotating optic was installed by Barbier & Bénard of Paris, very similar to the one they had provided the previous year for Lundy North Lighthouse; it displayed a group-flashing characteristic, flashing twice every 20 seconds. The lamp was powered by paraffin, and was not electrified until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynmouth Foreland Lighthouse
Lynmouth Foreland Lighthouse (also called the Countisbury Foreland Lighthouse, after the nearby village) is located on Foreland Point; it was originally simply named 'The Foreland Lighthouse'. First lit on 28 September 1900, the lighthouse was built to assist vessels passing through the Bristol Channel, and is a round brick tower painted white. The light is above the high tide, and flashes 4 times every 15 seconds; the optic ('a 1st Order dioptric apparatus, eight panels in two groups of four, revolving on a motor driven mercury float pedestal') was manufactured by Chance Brothers & Co. and is very similar to that installed in Pendeen Lighthouse the same year. It was rotated by clockwork until 1975. Initially, the light was said to have the power of 56,750 candles; later (its oil lamp having been superseded by a more powerful paraffin vapour burner) the intensity of the light was rated at around 190,000 candlepower. In 1906, the lighthouse was provided with an explosive fog si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lundy
Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It was a micronation from 1925–1969. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently changing hands between the British crown and various usurpers. In the 1920s, one self-proclaimed king, Martin Harman, tried to issue his own coinage and was fined by the House of Lords. In 1941, two German Heinkel He 111 bombers crash landed on the island, and their crews were captured. In 1969, Lundy was purchased by British millionaire Jack Hayward, who donated it to the National Trust. It is now managed by the Landmark Trust, a conservation charity that derives its income from day trips and holiday lettings, most visitors arriving by boat from Bideford or Ilfracombe. A local tourist curiosity is the special "Puffin" postage stamp, a category known by philatelists as "local carriage labels", a collectors' item. As a steep, rocky island ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egypt Point
Egypt Point is the northernmost point of the island county of the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England, and was one of Queen Victoria's favoured places during her time on the island. According to the Post Office at the 2011 Census the point population was included in the civil parish of Northwood, Isle of Wight. Egypt Point lies in between the town of Cowes and the village of Gurnard. Between 1897 and 1989 a lighthouse was maintained there by Trinity House. It flashed white every ten seconds, with a range of . Initially lit by paraffin, in 1925 it was converted to run automatically on acetylene; then in 1969 it was converted to run on electricity. In 1989 the 'changing requirements of the Mariner' led to the light being decommissioned. Though the light no longer functions, the structure remains a landmark for yachtsmen. In 1997 ownership was transferred from Trinity House to the new Isle of Wight Council. Egypt Point derives its name from a nearby gypsy encampment from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newport Wetlands
Newport Wetlands is a wildlife reserve covering parts of Uskmouth, Nash, Newport, Nash and Goldcliff, in the south-east of the city of Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales. History The reserve was established in 2000 to mitigate losses of wildlife habitat when the Cardiff Bay Barrage scheme was undertaken. The site is owned and managed by Natural Resources Wales, the successor body to the Countryside Council for Wales. A purpose-built visitor and education centre for the site was opened, in West Nash, in March 2008 by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) with help from Newport City Council and water level management assistance by Caldicot and Wentloog Levels internal drainage board, Internal Drainage Board. The reserve covers of the Caldicot and Wentloog Levels, Caldicot Level, a low-lying area of land bordering the northern shore of the Severn Estuary. Part of the site is a reclaimed fuel ash disposal site, although some farmland in Goldcliff and Nash has al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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