Lundy South Lighthouse

Loading...
Loading...

See also Lundy North Lighthouse

Chance Brothers Lighthouse Chance Brothers Lighthouse
  • Date of lens manufacture

    1857

  • Date of lighthouse construction

    1897

  • Country

    United Kingdom

  • Commissioning body

    Trinity House

  • Order of lens

    4th order

  • Fixed or revolving lens

    Revolving

  • Active/Inactive
    ---
  • Describe the character of light

    Fl 5s

  • Describe the lighthouses daymarks

    16 m (52 ft) cylindrical brick tower with lantern and gallery attached to two 1-story keeper's houses. Solar-powered lens in the lantern. The fog horn (blast every 25 s) is mounted atop the lantern. All buildings painted white.

  • Which aspects of the lighthouse (other than the lens) were manufactured by Chance brothers
    ---
  • Describe the history of the lighthouse

    At the mouth of the Bristol Channel lies Lundy Island; 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; on the cliffs large colonies of guillemots, razor bills and herring gulls make their nests while on the rocks below Atlantic seals take refuge.

    In 1819 Trinity House proposed the erection of a lighthouse on the rocky summit of Chapel Hill. The builder was Joseph Nelson, the engineer was Daniel Alexander and the Superintendent of Works was James Turnbull. The granite tower was 29 metres (96 feet) high with the keepers’ houses adjoining, the cost being £10,276 19s.11d. Two lights were shown from the tower, an innovation in lighthouse optics; the lower was a fixed white light, the upper was a white quick flashing light every 60 seconds.

    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 five 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.

    As a result, Trinity House built two new lighthouses on the North and South extremities of the island in 1897 and discontinued the old often-fog-obscured lighthouse. While Lundy South Lighthouse is a compact station with a white circular tower, Lundy North Lighthouse is set on a narrow plateau. The light was produced from a 75mm petroleum vapour burner until 1971 when electricity was installed. Lundy South Lighthouse was automated and converted to solar power in 1994.

    The lighthouse is now monitored and controlled from Trinity House’s Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.

  • Current management body/ ports authority
    ---
  • Historical preservation societies/manager/operator

    Trinity House

  • Is the site vulnerable to coastal erosion?
    da
  • Have you experienced any affects of climate change on the lighthouse?
    ---
  • Observations on the condition of the lighthouse?
    ---
  • Is the site open/closed to the public

    Open

  • Is the tower open/closed to the public

    Closed

  • Latitude and Longitude

    51.161945 -4.656

  • On-site bookable accommodation available
    ---
  • Associated web addresses
  • Other details

    The South lighthouse is set in a somewhat more spacious site; the tower is 52 ft (16 m) tall. When built, equipment from the old Lundy Lighthouse (including the 1857 optic) was reused in this tower, where it remained in use until 1962. It displayed a single flash every 30 seconds. https://new.opengreenmap.org/manage/sites/62af55e019cfcc010073f546

    In contrast to the North, the South lighthouse sounded an explosive fog signal; initially discharged manually from the lantern gallery, in 1908 a small building was constructed (where there is now a helicopter pad) containing an automated apparatus provided by the Clockwork Explosive Fog Signal Company of Victoria. It remained in use until 1964 when it was replaced by a set of 'supertyfon' air horns, eight in number, placed in a housing on top of the lantern. Thirty years later, just prior to the automation of the South light, the supertyfon was itself replaced by an electric emitter, installed alongside it.

    The South lighthouse has a focal length of 174 ft (53 m) and displays a quick white flash every 5 seconds. It can be seen as a small white dot from Hartland Point, 11 mi (18 km) to the southeast. It was automated and converted to solar power in 1994. A small (fourth-order) optic, in use since 1962, was removed at this time; (in 2001 it was installed in Dungeness Lighthouse where it remains in use) [clarification needed] In its place in the lantern room there is now a smaller rotating beacon manufactured by the Dutch firm Orga.

    ARLHS ENG-075; Admiralty A5618; NGA 6248.

  • Which resources did you use to research this lighthouses?
    1. Chance Lighthouses (1856-1917) (61 years), David Encill's list 1856-95: Lundy island; Active; 1857; Holophotal revolving lights
Former Chance Lens Since Replaced/Removed Former Chance Lens Since Replaced/Removed
  • Date of decommissioning or removal of Chance lens

    1962

  • Which lens(es) replaced the Chance lens ?
    ---

In the 1800s, Chance Brothers & Co glassworks in Smethwick began making the hi-tech lenses that lighthouses use to warn ships of dangerous locations. By 1951, over 2,500 lighthouses around the world were fitted with a Chance lens.

Unde?


[16, 6, 1, 6]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[10, 6]
[10, 10]
[10, 20]
[10, 30]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]