Built in 1844 by Cottam and Hallen of Cornwall Road,

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

; in their works within sight of

Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at the ...

Erected by the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

, the Gibb's Hill Lighthouse is the taller of two

lighthouses A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, and one of the first lighthouses in the world to be made of

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

. This is because at that time, steel still was not able to be bent. The optic consists of a

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

from 1904 revolving on steel bearings. However, for most of its history, the lens revolved on a bed of 1,200 pounds of

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

. While it is certainly not extremely tall in lighthouse standards, the hill that it stands on is one of the highest on the island. The light's

focal plane In Gaussian optics, the cardinal points consist of three pairs of points located on the optical axis of a rotationally symmetric, focal, optical system. These are the '' focal points'', the principal points, and the nodal points. For ''ideal'' ...

on Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, therefore, is at above sea level. Airplanes can see its flashes from over away. The lighthouse has 185 steps to the top in eight flights. Until 1964, most of the light was run by hand, but in June of that year, the whole system was automated and runs on electricity. Sixty-thousand people ascended the lighthouse in 1985, and it continues to be a popular tourist attraction. A

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

antenna for marine shipping was installed atop the lighthouse in 1987 supported on a steel space frame fixed at the original bolt locations. The radar and supporting frame were undamaged in September 2003 despite the oscillation of the tower during

Hurricane Fabian Hurricane Fabian was a powerful Cape Verde hurricane that impacted Bermuda in early September during the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season, developed from a tr ...

. This movement caused two gallons of mercury to slop out of the lens support trough and put the light out of operation. The 1904 lens was repaired in 2004 with steel bearings to replace the mercury. At the base of the tower is the Lighthouse Tea Room, a restaurant converted from the lighthouse keeper's former living quarters, where breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served daily. File:2010-06-19 Bermuda Day 2+-2894.jpg, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse Lens File:Cast-iron lighthouse ILN 1844-0420-0020.jpg, Trial erection in

, London in 1844 File:GORDON(1863) Lighthouses - BERMUDAS.jpg, Internal diagram File:A view from Gibbs Hill.jpg, A view from Gibbs Hill, 1857 File:Interior view of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse near the base.jpg, Interior view of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse near the base File:Interior_view_of_Gibbs_Hill_Lighthouse_showing_cast_iron_wall.jpg, Interior view of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse showing the cast iron plates of the outer wall. File:Interior view of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse looking up at a ceiling.jpg, Interior view of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse looking up at a ceiling File:View of the ocean from the top of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.jpg, View of the ocean from the top of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse

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References

External links

Department of Marine & Ports Services
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1844 Lighthouses in Bermuda Southampton Parish, Bermuda

See also

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External links