Trevose Head Lighthouse
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Trevose Head Lighthouse is a
lighthouse 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 ...
on
Trevose Head Trevose Head ( kw, Penn Trenfos, meaning ''farm of the wall's headland'') () is a headland on the Atlantic coast of north Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately west of Padstow. The South West Coast Path runs around the whole pro ...
on the north Cornish coast at lying to the WSW of
Padstow Padstow (; kw, Lannwedhenek) is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately northwest of Wadebridge, ...
and was sited here as there was previously no light from
Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...
to
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 chang ...
and it would be visible from
Cape Cornwall Cape Cornwall ( kw, Kilgoodh Ust, meaning "goose back of St Just") is a small headland in West Cornwall, UK. It is four miles north of Land's End near the town of St Just.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Until the first O ...
to
Hartland Point Hartland Point is a high rocky outcrop of land on the north-western tip of the Devon coast in England. It is three miles (5 km) north-west of the village of Hartland. The point marks the western limit (on the English side) of the Bristol C ...
. The tower is tall, and has a range of , but, on a clear night, you can just spot the light from
Pendeen Lighthouse Pendeen Lighthouse, also known as Pendeen Watch is an active aid to navigation located to the north of Pendeen in west Cornwall, England. It is located within the Aire Point to Carrick Du SSSI, the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty an ...
, over away.


History


Construction

The site was surveyed by order of the Trinity Board in July 1844 with a design submitted that November and approved February 1845. Building began in that May with the laying out of the road and contract entered into with the builders the next month. During gales on 20–21 November 1846 scaffolding attached to the tower was blown away. After completion of the first tower, it was determined that the light was under certain circumstances liable to be mistaken by mariners. A second lower light was therefore proposed and (the decision having been taken in June 1847) it was constructed, 50 feet in front of the first light, with a covered passage between them for use by the
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 ...
s. Only the first built 'high' light now remains. Designed by engineer James Walker the two original lights, 'high' and 'low', were constructed under the supervision of Henry Norris by builders Jacob & Thomas Olver of Falmouth. They were provided with a pair of
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
optics 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, ultraviole ...
by Henry Lépaute of
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and each had an
oil lamp An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. Th ...
with 4 concentric wicks manufactured by Messrs. Wilkins & Co. of
Long Acre Long Acre is a street in the City of Westminster in central London. It runs from St Martin's Lane, at its western end, to Drury Lane in the east. The street was completed in the early 17th century and was once known for its coach-makers, and l ...
. The light was first lit on 1 December 1847.


Later developments

In 1882, under Engineer-in-Chief James Douglass, the 'high' light was changed to an
occulting light A light characteristic is all of the properties that make a particular navigational light identifiable. Graphical and textual descriptions of navigational light sequences and colours are displayed on nautical charts and in Light Lists with the cha ...
, now with a six-wick lamp, and the 'low' light was put out of use. Under the new arrangement the high light was eclipsed (for three seconds) three times in quick succession every minute. From 1911 a series of further improvements were made. First, the keepers' dwellings were upgraded. Then, in 1912 the light was again updated and the current rotating optic (weighing 3.6 tons) was installed. At the same time, the addition of a red filter to the lamp meant that (as from 1 August 1912) the lighthouse displayed one short red flash every five seconds. Work also began on installing a
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 ...
: a 5-inch
siren 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, Wisc ...
attached to a 36-foot-long
acoustic horn An acoustic horn or waveguide is a tapered sound guide designed to provide an acoustic impedance match between a sound source and free air. This has the effect of maximizing the efficiency with which sound waves from the particular source are trans ...
, which came into service in 1913; it was nicknamed '
Lord Rayleigh John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Amo ...
's trumpet' after its designer, the eminent physicist and
acoustician Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
. The trumpet and siren were built on to the roof of a new engine house, containing a pair of Hornsby oil engines, the
air compressor An air compressor is a pneumatic device that converts power (using an electric motor, diesel or gasoline engine, etc.) into potential energy stored in pressurized air (i.e., compressed air). By one of several methods, an air compressor forces ...
,
reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
and other equipment. In 1920 a paraffin vapour burner replaced the oil lamp; it continued to show one red flash every 5 seconds. The fog signal equipment all remained in service until 1963, when the trumpet and siren were replaced by a set of eight 'supertyfon'
air horn An air horn is a pneumatic device designed to create an extremely loud noise for signaling purposes. It usually consists of a source which produces compressed air, which passes into a horn through a reed or diaphragm. The stream of air caus ...
s mounted in a metal turret on top of the engine house. New diesel engines and Reavell compressors were provided. The light was electrified in 1974. In 1995 the lighthouse was automated and became unmanned. The red colour was removed from the light at this time and the rotation speed of the optic was slowed. By this stage the engine house was suffering cracking due to erosion; with automation a new fog signal was installed (a stack of electric emitters placed at the foot of the lighthouse) whereupon the old engine house was demolished. The fog signal was decommissioned in 2012. The former keepers' cottages (arranged in two semi-detached pairs) are nowadays available to rent as holiday accommodation.


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


Trevose Head at Trinity House (official website).

Video tour of the lighthouse by former keeper P. Halil (1993 & 1995).
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1847 Lighthouses in Cornwall 1847 establishments in England Grade II listed lighthouses Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall