Pendeen Lighthouse, also known as Pendeen Watch is an active
aid to navigation
In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another.
Ai ...
located to the north of
Pendeen
Pendeen (from kw, Penn Din meaning "headland fort", previously known as kw, Boskaswal Wartha, meaning "Caswal's high dwelling") is a village and ecclesiastical parish on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is north-northe ...
in west
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, England. It is located within the
Aire Point to Carrick Du SSSI, the
Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers in Cornwall, England, UK; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 for ...
and the
Penwith
Penwith (; kw, Pennwydh) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after ...
Heritage Coast. The
South West Coast Path passes to the south.
Layout
Attached to the tower itself, there is an 'E' shaped building split into a terrace of four cottages. Three of the cottages were originally used to house the three resident keepers, their wives and families, with the fourth used as an office area and sleeping accommodation for the supernumerary keepers. They are now let as holiday cottages. Water was originally collected off the flat roof of the accommodation block and stored in an underground tank.
[ Behind the cottages are three kitchen gardens (which soon fell into disuse as nothing would grow in such an exposed position). On the seaward side of the complex, the fog siren and its accompanying machinery is housed in a separate building.
]
Significance
The lighthouse, together with the attached keepers' cottages, are Grade II listed, as is the separate engine house (with its fog horn
A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. Wh ...
equipment), along with other associated buildings and the boundary walls. Pendeen's engine house is 'the only example in the country to have retained its 12" siren with associated machinery'.
Construction
Trinity House
"Three In One"
, formation =
, founding_location = Deptford, London, England
, status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity
, purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons
, he ...
decided to build a lighthouse and foghorn here in 1891 and the building was designed by their engineer Sir Thomas Matthews. The tower, buildings and surrounding wall were constructed by Arthur Carkeek of Redruth who had to flatten the headland before building could commence. The light was first lit on 3 October 1900.
Lamp and optic
A five–wick Argand lamp
The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequent ...
was initially provided, by Messrs Chance of Smethwick, near Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
; it was replaced not long afterwards, however, by a Matthews 3-50mm dia. mantle lamp. (The original Argand oil lamp was on display at the Trinity House National Lighthouse Museum, Penzance, until 2005 when the museum closed.) Chance Brothers also manufactured the lens system: a large (first-order
In mathematics and other formal sciences, first-order or first order most often means either:
* "linear" (a polynomial of degree at most one), as in first-order approximation and other calculus uses, where it is contrasted with "polynomials of high ...
) rotating optic made up of two sets of four panels (eight panels in all), which displayed a group of four flashes every fifteen seconds,[ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911 edition, vol. 16, p. 650.] (and which as of 2019 is still in use); it had a range of .
Fog siren
The fog signal
A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...
was sounded from a detached engine house a little to the north-west. In 1900 it contained a pair of Hornsby oil engines providing compressed air for the twin 5-inch sirens
Siren or sirens may refer to:
Common meanings
* Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies
* Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology
Places
* Siren (town), Wisconsin
* Siren, Wisco ...
, which sounded a seven-second blast every one-and-a-half minutes, through vertical curved trumpets (still in place) on the engine room roof.
Electrification
In 1926 Pendeen was the first Trinity House station to be fitted with a new, more powerful 12-inch siren. This was part of a general upgrade to the lighthouse, which saw new Gardner semi-diesel engine
The hot-bulb engine is a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignites by coming in contact with a red-hot metal surface inside a bulb, followed by the introduction of air (oxygen) compressed into the hot-bulb chamber by the rising p ...
s installed in the engine house and an electric filament lamp replacing the petroleum vapour light in the lantern. Pendeen was one of the first Trinity House lighthouses to be equipped with an incandescent light bulb
An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxid ...
: 'in order to obviate a watch being kept during fog both in the engine room and the lantern, electric light has been introduced in place of the petroleum-vapour lamps and the apparatus in the lantern made automatic'. The electric current was generated by dynamo
"Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, )
A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundati ...
s directly coupled to another set of semi-diesel engines. The lamp used was an Osram gas-filled bulb, specially designed for Trinity House by the General Electric Company. The automated equipment included a turntable lamp changer: in the event of a lamp failure, a reserve bulb was brought into position and lit (and an alarm notified the keeper), and if the reserve bulb then failed, it was replaced by a self-lighting acetylene lamp
Acetylene (systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...
; the system remained in use until the mid-1990s.
In the engine house, the Gardners were replaced by a pair of Ruston & Hornsby
Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included ca ...
diesels in 1963.
Automation
Pendeen Lighthouse was automated in 1995 with the keepers leaving the station on 3 May. While a new electric lamp and automatic lamp changer were provided at this time, the original optic was retained and it remains in use. As part of the preparation for automation the fog siren was decommissioned and replaced with an electric fog signal, sounding once every 20 seconds; (The fog signal was decommissioned in April 2014).
Gallery
File:Pendeen Watch lighthouse.jpg, Pendeen
Pendeen (from kw, Penn Din meaning "headland fort", previously known as kw, Boskaswal Wartha, meaning "Caswal's high dwelling") is a village and ecclesiastical parish on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is north-northe ...
Watch lighthouse
File:Pendeen Watch lighthouse Cornwall.jpg, Views of Pendeen
Pendeen (from kw, Penn Din meaning "headland fort", previously known as kw, Boskaswal Wartha, meaning "Caswal's high dwelling") is a village and ecclesiastical parish on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is north-northe ...
Watch lighthouse Cornwall
See also
* List of lighthouses in England
This is a list of lighthouses in England. It includes lighthouses which are no longer in use as a light but are still standing. It also includes some of the harbour and pier-head lights around the country.
Details of several lighthouses and li ...
References
External links
Pendeen Lighthouse at Trinity House
Photographs and Information from Strolling Guides
{{Authority control
Grade II listed lighthouses
Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall
Lighthouses completed in 1900
Lighthouses in Cornwall
St Just in Penwith
1900 establishments in England