Pendeen Lighthouse

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Pendeen Lighthouse
Map
LocationPendeen, Cornwall, St Just in Penwith, United Kingdom Edit this at Wikidata
Coordinates50°09′54″N 5°40′18″W / 50.164967°N 5.671592°W / 50.164967; -5.671592
Tower
Constructed1900 Edit this on Wikidata
Constructionconcrete rubblestone tower
Automated1995 Edit this on Wikidata
Height17 m (56 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Shapecylindrical tower with balcony and lantern[1]
Markingswhite Edit this on Wikidata
OperatorTrinity House Edit this on Wikidata
Light
First lit3 October 1900 Edit this on Wikidata
Focal height59 m (194 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Lens1st order catadioptric fixed lens (original), 1st order dioptric, 2 groups of 4 panels, rotating lens (current)
Intensity18,700 candela Edit this on Wikidata
Range16 nmi (30 km; 18 mi) Edit this on Wikidata
CharacteristicFl(4) W 15s Edit this on Wikidata

Pendeen Lighthouse, also known as Pendeen Watch is an active

Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Penwith Heritage Coast. The South West Coast Path
passes to the south.

Layout

Former ancillary buildings including the fog horn engine house (left) and keepers' accommodation (foreground)

Attached to the tower itself, there is an E-shaped building split into a terrace of four cottages. Three of the cottages were originally used to house the three resident keepers, their wives and families, with the fourth used as an office area and sleeping accommodation for the supernumerary keepers. They are now let as holiday cottages. Water was originally collected off the flat roof of the accommodation block and stored in an underground tank.[3] Behind the cottages are three kitchen gardens (which soon fell into disuse as nothing would grow in such an exposed position). On the seaward side of the complex, the fog siren and its accompanying machinery is housed in a separate building.

Significance

The lighthouse, together with the attached keepers' cottages, are

fog horn equipment),[5] along with other associated buildings and the boundary walls.[6] Pendeen's engine house is 'the only example in the country to have retained its 12" siren with associated machinery'.[5]

Construction

Trinity House decided to build a lighthouse and foghorn here in 1891 and the building was designed by their engineer Sir Thomas Matthews. The 17 metres (56 ft) tower, buildings and surrounding wall were constructed by Arthur Carkeek of Redruth who had to flatten the headland before building could commence.[3] The light was first lit on 3 October 1900.[7]

Lamp and optic

A five–wick Argand lamp was initially provided, by Messrs Chance of Smethwick, near Birmingham;[8] it was replaced not long afterwards, however, by a Matthews 3-50mm dia. mantle lamp.[9] (The original Argand oil lamp was on display at the Trinity House National Lighthouse Museum, Penzance,[4] until 2005 when the museum closed.) Chance Brothers also manufactured the lens system: a large (first-order) rotating optic made up of two sets of four panels (eight panels in all), which displayed a group of four flashes every fifteen seconds,[9] (and which as of 2019 is still in use);[10] it had a range of 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi).[11]

Fog siren

The

fog signal was sounded from a detached engine house a little to the north-west. In 1900 it contained a pair of Hornsby oil engines providing compressed air for the twin 5-inch sirens,[12] which sounded a seven-second blast every one-and-a-half minutes,[11]
through vertical curved trumpets (still in place) on the engine room roof.

Electrification

In 1926 Pendeen was the first Trinity House station to be fitted with a new, more powerful 12-inch siren. This was part of a general upgrade to the lighthouse, which saw new

acetylene lamp;[13] the system remained in use until the mid-1990s.[16]

In the engine house, the Gardners were replaced by a pair of Ruston & Hornsby diesels in 1963.[12]

Automation

Pendeen Lighthouse was automated in 1995 with the keepers leaving the station on 3 May.[17] While a new electric lamp and automatic lamp changer were provided at this time, the original optic was retained and it remains in use.[18] As part of the preparation for automation the fog siren was decommissioned and replaced with an electric fog signal,[18] sounding once every 20 seconds; (The fog signal was decommissioned in April 2014).[19]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Southwest England (Devon and Cornwall)". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  2. ISBN 978-0-319-23148-7
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-85704-107-4
    .
  4. ^ a b Historic England. "Pendeen Lighthouse and Keeper Cottages with courtyard walls (1268242)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  5. ^ a b Historic England. "Engine House at Pendeen Lighthouse (1268243)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  6. ^ Historic England. "Boundary and Garden Walls to Pendeen Lighthouse (1257670)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  7. ^ "The Loss of the William Cory". Penwith Local History Group. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  8. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 30 (Tenth ed.). London: A & C Black. 1902. p. 262. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  9. ^ a b Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911 edition, vol. 16, p. 650.
  10. ^ "Pendeen Lighthouse". Trinity House. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  11. ^ a b Potter, J. D. (1903). The Channel Pilot. London: Admiralty, Hydrographic Department. p. 11.
  12. ^ a b Renton, Alan (2001). Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals. Caithness, Scotland: Whittles.
  13. ^ a b Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 14 (14 ed.). London: The Encyclopedia Britannica Company, Ltd. 1929. p. 96.
  14. ^ "Pendeen Lighthouse". Electricity: A Practical Trade Journal. 40: 766. 22 October 1926.
  15. ^ Photograph, 1980s
  16. ^ "Pendeen Lighthouse". Worldwide Lighthouses. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Pendeen | Lighthouse List | Trinity House". Archived from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  18. ^ a b Woodman, Richard; Wilson, Jane (2002). The Lighthouses of Trinity House. Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts.: Thomas Reed. pp. 196–197.
  19. ^ "Consultation outcome: Pendeen and Round Island Lighthouses fog signal". UK Government. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2020.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pendeen_Lighthouse&oldid=1194776592"