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The Old Lighthouse
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This is the Old Lighthouse on Lundy Island just a a fogbank moves in from the Atlantic, about 10 seconds after this shot was taken everything was covered in the fog, luckily it didn't stay too long, this lighthouse is no longer used and there are two more on the island controlled by a telemetry link from Essex.
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At the mouth of the Bristol Channel lies the Island of Lundy. It is a rugged mass of dark granite, surrounded by reefs of sharp rocks that make an approach to the island difficult to the unknowing sailor. Measuring about 3½ miles in length by ¾ mile in width the island has some 20 miles of dangerous coastline.
In 1819 Trinity House proposed the erection of a lighthouse on the rocky summit of Chapel Hill. The builder was Joseph Nelson, the engineer Daniel Alexander and the Superintendent of Works, James Turnbull. The granite tower was 96 feet high with the keepers houses adjoining, the cost being £10,276 19s.11d. Two lights were shown from the tower; the lower was a fixed white light; the upper was a white quick flashing light, every 60 seconds. This was an innovation in lighthouse optics. However, the light revolved so quickly that no period of darkness was detectable between the flashes so in effect this also appeared as a fixed light. They were shown from elevations of 508' and 538' respectively and from 5 miles away the two lights merged into one.
It was this appearance of being a fixed light that contributed to a disaster on the evening of November 1828. The ship La Jeune Emma travelling from Martinique to Cherbourg arrived in Carmarthen Bay in thick fog and mistook the Lundy lights for the fixed light of Ushant and went onto the rocks. Of the 19 people on board 13 were lost including a niece of the Empress Josephine.
The lighthouse was abandoned in 1897 due to the continual complaints that the light was completely lost in fog and two new lighthouses were built on the North and South extremities of the island. The South Lighthouse is a compact station with a white circular tower. It was automated and converted to solar power in 1994. The North Lighthouse is set on a narrow plateau, on the cliffs large colonies of guillemots, razor bills and herring gulls make their nests whilst on the rocks below Atlantic seals take refuge. The light was produced from a 75mm petroleum vapour burner until 1971 when electricity was installed. The North Station was automated in 1985 and modernised in 1991 when it was converted to solar power with a new proprietary lantern manufactured by Orga installed on the disused fog signal building.
Both Lundy Lighthouses are now monitored and controlled via telemetry link from the Trinity House Central Planning Unit at Harwich in Essex.
Info from Trinity House |
clive, gerbilratz, jean11-3 has marked this note useful
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as an ex sailor, that lighthouse is about as much use as mudflaps on a tortoise!! Great picture though!! I like the fog coming down and the clear foreground, good image....
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Hi Andy,
Great notes it adds a lot of depth to the picture, especially with half of the lighthouse in the fog.
I like the compositions with the top of the picture gray fog and the bottom lush green of the fields.
It feels like a lonely place with just rocks and a few sheep around.
TFS,
Clive