St Bees Lighthouse

St Bees Lighthouse
North Head

St Bees Lighthouse
Cumbria
Location St Bees Head
Cumbria
England
Coordinates 54°30′49″N 3°38′12″W / 54.513644°N 3.636739°W / 54.513644; -3.636739Coordinates: 54°30′49″N 3°38′12″W / 54.513644°N 3.636739°W / 54.513644; -3.636739
Year first constructed 1718
Year first lit 1867
Automated 1987
Construction stone tower
Tower shape cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern
Markings / pattern white tower and lantern
Height 17 m (56 ft)
Focal height 102 m (335 ft)
Current lens 1st order 920 mm catadioptric
Light source mains power
Intensity 60,000 ccandela
Range 18 nmi (33 km; 21 mi)
Characteristic Fl (2) W 20s.
Admiralty number A4710
NGA number 4892
ARLHS number ENG-142
Managing agent

Trinity House[1]

[2]

St Bees Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on St Bees Head near the village of St Bees in Cumbria, England.

History

The first lighthouse on the site began its life in 1718 on land brought by Trinity House, one of the UK's General Lighthouse Authorities. It was constructed by Thomas Lutwige, who paid a lease of £20 per year for the site. It stood 9 metres tall and was 5 metres in diameter topped with a large metal grate on which the lighthouse keeper would burn coal. To make money Lutwidge levied charges of 3½ pence per tonne of cargo carried by vessels to nearby ports.[3] In 1822 it was the last coal-powered lighthouse[4] in Britain, when it was destroyed by a fire in which the keeper's wife and five children perished by suffocation.[5]

In its place a light with 15 oil burners was built by engineer Joseph Nelson at a cost of £1,447 operating from 1823.[6] This in turn was replaced by the current higher round tower in 1865 with two new dwelling houses for the keepers.[7] The tower is 17 metres high and stands an average of 102 metres above sea level. In the interwar period the lighthouse was used as a turning marker in the London to Isle of Man air races.[8] During World War II the local Home Guard used it to practise defence/attack strategies although there is no record of ammunition being fired at it.[9] By 1987 it was fully electrified and automated, giving a beam of 134,000 candela which can be seen 18 nmi (33 km) away.

The fog signal was discontinued in 1987, and the detached building which housed the fog signal equipment now stands very close to the edge of the cliff. It used to sound two blasts every 45 seconds.[10]

Construction

The foundation stone of the current tower was laid in a ceremony on 10 May 1865,[11] with construction by builder John Glaister[12] of Whitehaven. Civil engineer Henry Norris[13] supervised the construction as resident engineer on behalf of Trinity House. Beneath the foundation stone a zinc box was laid containing a dated scroll signed by Henry Norris & John Glaister as well as by the others present at ceremony together with newspapers and coins of the realm.[14]

The tower was built of local sandstone[15] topped by a lantern that was originally destined for Gibraltar [16] with the single lamp supplied by Messrs. W. Wilkins & Co., of Long Acre.[17] The lighthouse was still under construction in late Nov 1866 when Henry Norris was sued by a painter in court in Whitehaven who had not been paid for lettering a notice board at the lighthouse.[18]

See also


References

  1. ↑ St. Bee's Head The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved May 6, 2016
  2. ↑ St. Bees Lighthouse Trinity House. Retrieved May 6, 2016
  3. ↑ In depth look at the lighthouse on the Trinity House website
  4. ↑ "Mechanical Section. The President's Address,- Lighthouses and Marine Buoys", Birmingham Daily Post, p. 6, Sep 3, 1886, so recently as 1822, the last beacon coal fire in this country was replaced by catoptric oil light apparatus at Saint Bees Lighthouse on the coast of Cumberland.
  5. ↑ "Melancholy Event", Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser, p. 2, Jan 21, 1822, On Saturday last, Inquests were held before PETER HODGSON, Esq. coroner, at Tarnflat, in Sandwich, on the bodies of Mary Clark and her five children, who were found dead the previous evening in the Light House, St. Bees Head, and the Jury returned verdicts - "Died by Suffocation."
  6. ↑ "Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 2". p. 105.
  7. ↑ "St. Bees New Lighthouse", Cumberland Pacquet, and Ware's Whitehaven Advertiser, p. 5, May 16, 1865, Besides the tower, two new and very substantial dwelling houses are being created for the keepers.
  8. ↑ Details from a St Bees website
  9. ↑ Details from the BBC's "People's War" website
  10. ↑ Jackson, Derrick (1975). Lighthouses of England and Wales.
  11. ↑ St. Bees New Lighthouse, The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of a new light-house at St. Bees Head was performed on Wednesday last...10th May 1865
  12. ↑ St. Bees New Lighthouse, Mr John Glaiston, of Whitehaven, is the builder
  13. ↑ St. Bees New Lighthouse, Mr Norris,the resident engineer, who has the superintendence of the work for Trinity House
  14. ↑ St. Bees New Lighthouse, Beneath the stone was deposited a zinc box containing the following inscription:-"...With this scroll is deposited newspapers of the day and current coins of the realm" This document was signed by Mr. Glaister, the builder, Mr Norris, the engineer, as well as most of party present
  15. ↑ St. Bees New Lighthouse, The new tower will be built of the red sandstone of the neighbourhood
  16. ↑ St. Bees New Lighthouse, The new lantern was originally destined for Gibraltar
  17. ↑ St. Bees New Lighthouse, It will be lighted by one lamp, instead of the fifteen, as the present one is. The lamp lamp will be supplied by Messrs. W. Wilkins & Co., of Longacre
  18. ↑ "County Courts - Whitehaven Tuesday Nov. 27", The Whitehaven News, p. 5, Nov 29, 1866, PEARSON v. NORRIS - In this case Charles Pearson, painter,Whitehaven, sued Mr. Norris, Government inspector at the St. Bees lighthouse, now in course of erection, for 10s 3d for work executed by plaintiff.- Plaintiff said the sum claimed was for lettering a notice-board at the St. Bees lighthouse.
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