Walney Lighthouse is a functioning

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 ...

located on

Walney Island Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England. The current building dates to the early 19th-century and is

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed as well as being the southernmost man-made structure in Cumbria. Completed in 1804, the stone lighthouse and its attached cottages actually predate Barrow and its

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. The structure was built to replace a smaller wooden lighthouse that was constructed by the Lancaster Quay Commissioners in 1790 to aid in navigation towards the docks at Glasson close to Lancaster and the

River Lune The River Lune (archaically sometimes Loyne) is a river in length in Cumbria and Lancashire, England. Etymology Several elucidations for the origin of the name ''Lune'' exist. Firstly, it may be that the name is Brittonic in genesis and deriv ...

. It contained three reflectors mounted on a slowly-revolving shaft; the reflectors consisted of a

concave Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon, a polygon which is not convex * Concave set * The concavity In ca ...

wooden frame covered with small pieces of mirrored glass. The original lighthouse was destroyed by fire in 1803 and was swiftly replaced by the lighthouse of today. The lighthouse was designed by engineer E. Dawson. The optical system (as renewed in 1846) was a clockwork-driven rotating array of four

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 ...

s backed by

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 ...

, which gave a white flash once a minute. The lighthouse saw little change until 1909, when an acetylene gaslight system was installed, this was again changed in 1953 to a 'manned' electric light and rotation system (still with the four reflectors),Photo of keeper, lamps and reflectors in 1994.
/ref> flashing once every fifteen seconds. In 2003, when it was finally automated, Walney was the last manned lighthouse in England. It was also the last to be using a

catoptric Catoptrics (from grc-gre, κατοπτρικός ''katoptrikós'', "specular", from grc-gre, κάτοπτρον ''katoptron'' "mirror") deals with the phenomena of reflected light and image-forming optical systems using mirrors. A catoptric s ...

apparatus; that year the reflectors were replaced by a modern electric light unit.

References

External links

On-site interview with former keeper Peg Braithwaite prior to automation
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Barrow-in-Furness Grade II* listed buildings in Cumbria Grade II* listed lighthouses Lighthouses completed in 1804 Lighthouses in Cumbria

See also

References

External links