Old Hunstanton Lighthouse
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Old Hunstanton Lighthouse is a former
lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...
located in Old Hunstanton in the English county of
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
,Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 250 - Norfolk Coast West''. . generally called Hunstanton Lighthouse (or, less formally, 'Hunston Lighthouse') during its operational life. It was built at the highest point available on this part of the coast, on top of Hunstanton Cliffs, and served to help guide vessels into the safe water of Lynn Deeps. Although the present lighthouse was built in 1840, there had been a lighthouse on the site since the 17th century (prior to which a light to aid navigation may have been displayed from
St Edmund's Chapel St Edmund's Chapel is a church in Dover, England, dedicated to St Edmund. It was completed in 1262 as a wayside chapel or chapel of rest for the cemetery for the poor beside the Maison Dieu, just outside the enclosed part of the medieval tow ...
, the ruins of which stand nearby). Prior to the establishment of the Lynn Well
light vessel A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. It is used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the ...
in 1828, Hunstanton Lighthouse provided the only visible guide to ships seeking to enter The Wash at night.


History

Before the establishment of a lighthouse in the vicinity, it appears that sailors used the lights burning in St Edmund's Chapel to guide them into The Wash by night. The pair of lighthouses that later stood on the site were known as the 'Chapel Lights'; and in 1838 their successor was still referred to, by John Purdy, as 'the Chapel Light, on Hunstanton Point'.


The first lighthouses

In 1663 permission was sought by a consortium of the merchants and ship-owners of
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and Lynn to erect one or more lights near St Edmund's Point, to help guide their vessels into
The Wash The Wash is a shallow natural rectangular bay and multiple estuary on the east coast of England in the United Kingdom. It is an inlet of the North Sea and is the largest multiple estuary system in the UK, as well as being the largest natural ba ...
. That November, a warrant was issued by Charles II to John Knight, permitting him to build a light or lights 'upon the Hunston-cliffe or chappel lands', and to maintain them by levying dues on passing ships. The first lights, a pair of stone towers which functioned as
leading lights Leading lights, also known as range lights in the United States, are a pair of light beacons used in navigation to indicate a safe passage for vessels entering a shallow or dangerous channel; they may also be used for position fixing. At nigh ...
, were built by him in 1665, at a cost of over £200. The front light of the pair was candle-lit; the rear had a coal-fired
brazier A brazier () is a container used to burn charcoal or other solid fuel for cooking, heating or rituals. It often takes the form of a metal box or bowl with feet, but in some places it is made of terracotta. Its elevation helps circulate air, feed ...
. They were found to be 'of great benefit'. In 1710 it was reported that the lighthouses were 'decayed and want repairing and will admit of great alterations and improvements'.Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 24, pp313-330, 5 June 1710.
/ref> That same year Knight's niece Rebecca and her husband James Everard were granted the right to receive the light dues for the period of the next fifty years. Substantial repairs were undertaken. By 1750 the front lighthouse, the smaller of the two, seems to have been taken out of commission. It seems that the structure remained standing for a time: but while two lighthouses are shown on John Cary's county map of 1787, there is only one on his map of 1794.


Everard's lighthouse of 1776

In around 1776 the rear lighthouse was destroyed by a fire. It was replaced by a new wooden structure, commissioned by Edward Everard of Lynn (grandson of the above-mentioned Rebecca and John), who had inherited the patent rights: a circular tower high, tapering from to in diameter from bottom to top. It placed the light at above sea level. Atop the tower was a simple square lantern room, glazed to seaward, which contained an innovative lighting array.


Walker's parabolic reflectors

The lantern was equipped with
parabolic reflector A parabolic (or paraboloid or paraboloidal) reflector (or dish or mirror) is a Mirror, 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 ge ...
s and oil lamps in place of a coal fire. Thus Hunstanton is said to have been the first 'major coast light' in Britain to employ an illuminant other than coal, and the first lighthouse in the world to be fitted with a parabolic reflector (though similar claims are made for Hutchinson's lighthouses in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
). The lighting apparatus was devised and installed by Ezekiel Walker of Lynn, who later went on to advise the
Northern Lighthouse Board The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for ocean, marine navigation aids around coastal areas. History The NLB was formed by ...
on installing parabolic reflectors in their towers around the coast of Scotland. As described in 1812, the light was provided by eighteen lamps set within diameter reflectors 'fixed upon two shelves, one placed over the other'; the lamps were arranged so as to direct the greatest concentration of light in a
north by east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...
direction, indicating to far-off vessels a way through sands and shoals off the Lincolnshire coast. Writing some fifty years after they were installed, Walker described them as follows: 'Each of the reflectors at Hunstanton contains 700 small mirrors of looking-glass, every one of which reflects part of the light of the small lamp placed in its focus'. The light was described in 1781 as 'constant and certain' and 'clearly distinguished at sea at a distance of seven leagues', (though this latter claim has been called 'extravagant'). In 1788 Everard sold his patent rights to Samuel Lane, Collector of Customs for the Port of Lynn. Forty years later, Hunstanton was one of just five lighthouses in England still in private hands, and in 1836 legislation was enacted which empowered the
Corporation of Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...
to purchase the leases of these last remaining private concessions; the following year, Hunstanton and the other lights were vested in Trinity House.


Current lighthouse

Trinity House promptly began work on replacing the wooden tower and its light, technology having advanced significantly in the sixty years since it was built. Work began in 1838 on a new lighthouse: designed by James Walker and built by William Candler of Lynn, it was first lit on 3 September 1840. It was a white-painted cylindrical brick tower, high, which placed the light at an elevation of above sea level; In place of the multiple lamps and reflectors, a single three-wick oil lamp was installed, set within a sizeable (
second-order Second-order may refer to: Mathematics * Second order approximation, an approximation that includes quadratic terms * Second-order arithmetic, an axiomatization allowing quantification of sets of numbers * Second-order differential equation, a d ...
) fixed
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 searchlig ...
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 J. Cookson & co. of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...
. The lighthouse initially displayed a fixed white light as before; but from 1844 a red
sector Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a po ...
was added to the light, indicating the position of the Roaring Middle
shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...
. The light had a range of . The new lighthouse was flanked by a pair of two-storey gabled houses for the keepers, which were connected by castellated
wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...
to the lighthouse itself. The cost of building the tower and the dwellings together came to £2,696 13 s 3 d. In 1883 Hunstanton Lighthouse was altered to display a group occulting light (the lamp being eclipsed twice for two seconds apiece, every thirty seconds). In 1897 the tower was repainted red, with a broad white stripe.


Decommissioning

The present lighthouse ceased operations in 1921, and the lantern storey was removed from the top of the tower the following year. To compensate for its closure, improvements were made to the light of the Inner Dowsing lightvessel. In 1922 the lighthouse was sold at auction for £1,300; the tower was left unused, but the adjacent cottages were converted into tearooms. Between 1934 and 1957 the tower was used as an
observation post An observation post (commonly abbreviated OP), temporary or fixed, is a position from which soldiers can watch enemy movements, to warn of approaching soldiers (such as in trench warfare), or to direct fire. In strict military terminology, an ...
by the
Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 Decembe ...
(it was at this time that an additional storey was added to the top of the tower where the lantern had formerly stood).Norfolk Heritage Explorer
/ref> Acquired subsequently by Hunstanton
Urban District Council In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...
, the property was sold by them in 1965, to become a private residence and later a
holiday let A vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed resort-condominium complex on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. The term ''vacation rental'' is mainly used in the US. Othe ...
. The two keepers' houses remained in place until at least the early 1960s, since when one has been demolished, and a modern annexe has been added to the other.


Gallery

Image:RemainsOfStEdmundsChapelAndLighthouseHunstanton(ChristineMatthews)Jul1992.jpg, Remains of St Edmund's Chapel and Lighthouse. Image:Hunstanton lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 837014.jpg, Close-up view Image:The Old Lighthouse, Hunstanton, 19 05 2010.JPG, Plaque outside the lighthouse Image:Hunstanton lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 837015.jpg, Another view Image:Hunstanton lighthouse - plaque - geograph.org.uk - 837018.jpg, Trinity House coat of arms on the tower File:Old Hunstanton Lighthouse at Dusk - geograph.org.uk - 1750055.jpg, The lighthouse at dusk


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


The Old Lighthouse
{{authority control Lighthouses completed in 1840
Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...
Lighthouses in Norfolk Grade II listed lighthouses Grade II listed buildings in Norfolk