South Foreland Lighthouses are a pair of
Victorian lighthouses on the
South Foreland
South Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England. It presents a bold cliff to the sea, and commands views over the Strait of Dover. It is centred northeast of Dover and 15 miles south of North Foreland. It includes ...
in
St. Margaret's Bay,
Dover,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, used to warn
ships approaching the nearby
Goodwin Sands
Goodwin Sands is a sandbank at the southern end of the North Sea lying off the Deal coast in Kent, England. The area consists of a layer of approximately depth of fine sand resting on an Upper Chalk platform belonging to the same geologi ...
. There has been a pair of lighthouses at South Foreland since at least the 1630s.
Even after the decommissioning of the Lower Lighthouse the pair continued to be used as
leading marks, with
Admiralty charts
Admiralty charts are nautical charts issued by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and subject to Crown Copyright. Over 3,500 Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and 14,000 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are available with the Admir ...
into the 20th century indicating that the 'Lighthouses in line lead south of the Goodwin Sands'.
South Foreland Upper Lighthouse was built in 1843. It went out of service in 1988 and is currently owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
. It was the first lighthouse to use an electric light,
and was the site chosen by
Guglielmo Marconi for his pioneering experiments in wireless radio transmissions.
South Foreland Lower Lighthouse was built at the same time further down the cliff, to the east, where it still stands; decommissioned in 1904, it is now in private ownership.
History
The dangers posed to shipping by the Goodwin Sands have long been recognised and the earliest record of a warning light being used on the Foreland relates to a Brother Nicholas de Legh, who hung a white light from cliffs near
St Margaret-at-Cliffe a little to the north.
17th and 18th century
![Dover cliffs, South Foreland Lighthouse (7961633780)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Dover_cliffs%2C_South_Foreland_Lighthouse_%287961633780%29.jpg)
The first pair of lighthouses at South Foreland was built in 1635 by
Sir John Meldrum
Sir John Meldrum ( – died 1645) was a soldier of Scottish origin who spent 36 years in the service of the Stuart kings of Scotland and England, James VI and I and Charles I. In 1636, Meldrum was granted by letters-patent from the king licen ...
.
(He also built the first
North Foreland Lighthouse
North Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England, specifically in Broadstairs.
With the rest of Broadstairs and part of Ramsgate it is the eastern side of Kent's largest peninsula, the Isle of Thanet. It presents a ...
, 15 miles to the north, the following year.) The light at this time was provided by an open fire burning in a
brazier
A brazier () is a container used to burn charcoal or other solid fuel for cooking, heating or cultural rituals. It often takes the form of a metal box or bowl with feet. Its elevation helps circulate air, feeding oxygen to the fire. Braziers ...
on the roof. Responsibility for the lighthouses (and rights to the associated
light dues
Light dues are the charges levied on ships for the maintenance of lighthouses and other aids to navigation.
British Isles
Light dues are levied on commercial vessels and larger pleasure boats calling at ports in the British Isles and paid into th ...
) were passed to
Robert Osboldstonin 1643, and then in 1715 to
Greenwich Hospital.
In 1730 one William Knott began a period of service as
lighthouse keeper
A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...
at the Lower Lighthouse. Over the next 175 years five generations of the
Knott family would serve as lighthouse keepers at South Foreland, making them 'probably the longest dynasty of keepers anywhere in the world'.
In 1793 the Upper Lighthouse was rebuilt with an oil lamp and
parabolic reflectors
A parabolic (or paraboloid or paraboloidal) reflector (or dish or mirror) is a reflective surface used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is part of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface generated ...
in place of the brazier; the Lower Lighthouse was similarly rebuilt two years later (as a two-storey building, whereas the Upper Lighthouse was three storeys).
John Yenn
John Yenn (1750–1821) was a notable 18th-century English architect.
Life
Yenn was born on 8 March 1750. He was a student at the Royal Academy from September 1769. He was elected an associate of the academy in 1774 and a full academician in ...
was the architect.
19th century
![FC position and Old Lighthouse, St Margaret's](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/FC_position_and_Old_Lighthouse%2C_St_Margaret%27s.jpg)
In 1832 the
Corporation of 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 ...
purchased the lease for the South Foreland lights from Greenwich Hospital. Ten years later the Upper Lighthouse was heightened and refurbished with a multi-wick oil lamp and a
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 ...
fixed
dioptric optic, manufactured by Henry-Lepaute of Paris. Then, the Lower Lighthouse was entirely rebuilt, in 1846, and provided with a fixed array of fifteen Argand lamps and reflectors.
The architect and engineer for both these projects was
James Walker.
At the same time new accommodation for the keepers was built alongside each tower.
Electric light
In the 1850s
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
, scientific adviser to Trinity House, was exploring the feasibility of electric light being used in lighthouses; several different solutions were proposed. In 1857
Frederick Hale Holmes
Frederick Hale Holmes (born 1812) was a professor of Chemistry at the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art and pioneer of electric lighting.
Career
In 1853 he demonstrated the ability of electro-magnetic generators to provide continuous current t ...
demonstrated his
magneto-electric apparatus to Faraday, proposing its use in conjunction with
carbon arc lamp
An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc).
The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...
s. The initial trial was conducted at South Foreland Upper Light, which thus became the first lighthouse to use electric light.
The South Foreland trial began in December 1858 and continued until early 1860; afterwards Holmes's equipment was installed on a more permanent basis in
Dungeness Lighthouse, in 1862. (Meanwhile, at South Foreland that year, experimental use was being made of a
Drummond light
Limelight (also known as Drummond light or calcium light)James R. Smith (2004). ''San Francisco's Lost Landmarks'', Quill Driver Books. is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created whe ...
at the high lighthouse; however, 'the results were not satisfactory' with regard to its potential for lighthouse illumination.
)
In 1871
Souter Lighthouse
Souter Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in the village of Whitburn, Tyne and Wear, England. (It was generally known as Souter Point Lighthouse when in service). Souter Point was the first lighthouse in the world to be actually designed and bu ...
became the first to be designed and built for electric operation, and the following year South Foreland received its own permanent electric installation.
A power station was built, mid-way between the two lighthouses, containing four magneto generators driven by a pair of steam engines with coke-fuelled boilers. The building also included additional accommodation for the attendants. At the same time, the two lighthouses were each provided with a medium-sized (third-order)
catadioptric
A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lenses (dioptrics) and curved mirrors ( catoptrics). Catadioptric combinations are used in focusing systems such as searchlights, ...
fixed
optic
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
designed by
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White (born James Siegfried, April 20, 1953), is an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer.
A key figure in no wave, Chance has been playing a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and pu ...
.
Experiments undertaken by John Tyndall
In 1865
John Tyndall had succeeded Faraday as scientific adviser to Trinity House, remaining in post until 1883.
In 1873 Professor Tyndall was engaged by Trinity House to conduct a series of experiments on the relative effectiveness of different types of
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 ...
.
South Foreland, with its recently installed steam power plant, was chosen as the location and a variety of acoustic instruments were set up at the top and bottom of the cliff, to be monitored from a Trinity House vessel offshore. At first three systems were tested: a
steam whistle
A steam whistle is a device used to produce sound in the form of a whistle using live steam, which creates, projects, and amplifies its sound by acting as a vibrating system (compare to train horn).
Operation
The whistle consists of the fo ...
, an air whistle and a pair of air-powered brass
trumpets
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...
with reeds (designed by Frederick Hale Holmes). Later, other designs of whistle were trialled, as well as a steam '
syren' (provided by
Joseph Henry) and three types of gun (operated by gunners from
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some sources say it is the ...
). Tyndall's recommendation was that the siren should provide the standard fog signal at major landfall stations, with reeds judged suitable at some sites; by 1884 sirens were in use at 22 coastal stations and on 16 lightships.
Tyndall presented wider conclusions on the acoustic effects of different atmospheric conditions in a paper delivered to the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
the following year.
In 1876 Tyndall was again engaged to make a comparative study at South Foreland, this time of two different types of
electric generator: the
magneto
A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...
and the
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 ...
.
(In 1869 Holmes had speculatively constructed a pair of dynamos and suggested them for the permanent South Foreland installation, but at the time they were not considered sufficiently tried and tested.) The trial took place over the winter of 1876–77, and the dynamo was demonstrated to be both mechanically and electrically superior. A set of
Siemens dynamos was shortly afterwards installed at
Lizard Lighthouse
The Lizard Lighthouse is a lighthouse at Lizard Point, Cornwall, England, built to guide vessels passing through the English Channel. It was often the welcoming beacon to persons returning to England, where on a clear night, the reflected lig ...
when it was converted to electrical operation in 1878.
Later, in 1884, Professor Tyndall again conducted experiments for Trinity House at South Foreland, this time on the relative merits of gas lamps, oil lamps and electric lamps. For this purpose three temporary lighthouses were built, at the top of the cliff alongside the Upper Lighthouse, one powered by oil, one by gas and the third by electricity. Each provided space for different configurations of lamps or burners and optics to be tried. More than 6,000 observations were taken, from stations both on and offshore, and it was concluded that electric light was the most powerful under all conditions.
Marconi
In 1898 South Foreland Lighthouse was used by
Guglielmo Marconi during his work on
radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz ( GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (s ...
, receiving the first ship-to-shore message from the East Goodwin lightship on Christmas Eve that year. The system was used over the following winter to avert several shipwrecks. In 1899, the first international transmission was made between the lighthouse and
Wimereux
Wimereux (; vls, Wimeruwe) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
Wimereux is a coastal town situated some north of Boulogne, at the junction of the D233 and the D940 roads, on the b ...
in France.
20th century
![South Foreland Lighthouse- The lantern 2 (geograph 5523658)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/South_Foreland_Lighthouse-_The_lantern_2_%28geograph_5523658%29.jpg)
In 1904 the Lower Lighthouse was taken out of commission; the tower was sold and the attached cottage demolished soon afterwards. At the same time a 16-sided
second-order rotating optic was installed in the High Lighthouse (it had previously been in use in
St. Catherine's Lighthouse
St Catherine's Lighthouse is a lighthouse located at St Catherine's Point at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight. It is one of the oldest lighthouse locations in Great Britain.
Origins
The first lighthouse was established on St Catherine ...
).
It displayed a single flash every 2.5 seconds with a visible range of .
The lighthouse was connected to
mains electricity
Mains electricity or utility power, power grid, domestic power, and wall power, or in some parts of Canada as hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is delivered to h ...
in 1922, whereupon South Foreland Lighthouse became the first to use an
incandescent lightbulb
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 oxidat ...
as its light source.
At around the same time the 16-sided optic was adapted to give the lighthouse a new group-flashing characteristic (three flashes every twenty seconds). The Holmes generators, which had provided power for fifty years, were then disconnected, and the Holmes arc lamp was given to the
Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...
. The subsequent reduction of required maintenance, and provision of automatic electric equipment (including an electric winder for the clockwork mechanism to turn the lens), led to a reduction in staff numbers from one engineer and four keepers to just a single keeper.
In the event of a bulb failure, an
automatic lamp changer
An automatic lamp changer (or lampchanger) is a device used to ensure that a navigational light such as a marine lighthouse or aero beacon stays lit even if a bulb burns out. Numerous types exist. The common design elements are an array of two or ...
was activated (and an alarm notified the keeper); if the reserve bulb then failed, the lamp changer caused an
acetylene burner to be brought into position and lit.
![South Foreland Lighthouse back](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/South_Foreland_Lighthouse_back.jpg)
In 1969 the light became fully automated and the keepers' cottages (being no longer required) were sold.
In the mid-1980s it was decided that modern
navigational aids
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
had rendered the South Foreland light obsolete. It was decommissioned on 30 September 1988.
Present day
![Approaching South Foreland Lighthouse from Dover](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Approaching_South_Foreland_Lighthouse_from_Dover.jpg)
The lighthouse has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1989. As such it is open to the public. There is no vehicle access to the site; visitors are advised to walk either from Dover or from St Margaret's village, or else to use the nearby cycle route.
The lighthouse had remained unlit since 1988, but in June 2012 the light was reactivated to mark the
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. (The clockwork mechanism which turns the optic was restored to working order in 2004 to mark the centenary of its installation).
The light was again reactivated on 2 June 2022 to mark the Queen's
Platinum Jubilee
A platinum jubilee is a celebration held to mark an anniversary. Among monarchies, it usually refers to a 70th anniversary.
The most recent monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other C ...
.
In popular culture
*The South Foreland Lighthouse is one of the landmarks mentioned in the British
sea shanty "
Spanish Ladies".
*The ''
ChuckleVision
''ChuckleVision'' is a British children's comedy television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy, and Brian ...
'' episode "Finders Keepers" was filmed here.
*The ''
Doomwatch
''Doomwatch'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist ...
'' episode "The Red Sky" was filmed here.
*The Lower Lighthouse was featured in the 1967 film
The Shuttered Room
''The Shuttered Room'' (a.k.a. ''Blood Island'') is a 1967 British horror film directed by David Greene and starring Gig Young and Carol Lynley as a couple who move into a house with dark secrets. It is based on a short story of the same name ...
, which starred
Gig Young
Gig Young (born Byron Elsworth Barr; November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in ''Come Fill the Cup'' (1952) and '' Teacher's Pet'' ...
,
Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley (born Carole Ann Jones; February 13, 1942 – September 3, 2019) was an American actress known for her roles in the films '' Blue Denim'' (1959) and '' The Poseidon Adventure'' (1972).
Lynley was born in Manhattan to an Irish ...
,
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from q ...
and
Oliver Reed
Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...
.
See also
*
North Foreland Lighthouse
North Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England, specifically in Broadstairs.
With the rest of Broadstairs and part of Ramsgate it is the eastern side of Kent's largest peninsula, the Isle of Thanet. It presents a ...
*
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
South Foreland Lighthouse information at the National Trust* Video
South Foreland Lighthouse relit for Queen's Diamond Jubilee* Video
South Foreland Lighthouse relit for Queen's Platinum Jubilee* Video
Lighthouses of England - South Foreland, Kent, early 1990's (filmed by P. Halil)
{{lighthouse identifiers, qid2=Q386221, qid3=Q26323604
Lighthouses completed in 1840
Grade II listed buildings in Kent
Grade II listed lighthouses
Guglielmo Marconi
Lighthouse museums in England
Lighthouses in Kent
Lighthouses of the English Channel
Museums in Dover District
National Trust properties in Kent
Port of Dover, Kent