Location | Corsewall Point, Dumfries and Galloway, Kirkcolm, United Kingdom |
---|---|
OS grid | NW9807572614 |
Coordinates | 55°00′25″N5°09′33″W / 55.007°N 5.15917°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1816 |
Built by | Robert Stevenson |
Construction | masonry (tower) |
Automated | 1994 |
Height | 34 m (112 ft) |
Shape | cylinder |
Markings | white (tower), black (lantern), ochre (trim) |
Power source | mains electricity |
Operator | Northern Lighthouse Board |
Heritage | category A listed building |
Light | |
First lit | 1817 |
Focal height | 34 m (112 ft) |
Range | 22 nmi (41 km; 25 mi) |
Characteristic | Fl(5) W 30s |
Corsewall Lighthouse is a lighthouse at Corsewall Point, Kirkcolm near Stranraer in the region of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland. First lit in 1817, it overlooks the North Channel of the Irish Sea.
Corsewall is defined as the place or well of the Cross.
In 1814, a Mr Kirkman Finley applied to the Trade of Clyde for a lighthouse on Corsewall Point. The Northern Lighthouse Board investigated the site and in 1815 decided that a lighthouse should be built at the entrance of Loch Ryan, Galloway. When the engineer and lighthouse designer Robert Stevenson undertook an inspection voyage in December 1815, he observed that the lighthouse tower, at 30 feet (9.1 m), and house were under construction. [2]
Corsewall Lighthouse was first lit in 1817. That same year, the Principal Keeper was reported for incompetence after falling asleep while on duty. For a period of time the revolving apparatus of the light had stopped. The Keeper was suspended and demoted becoming an assistant at Bell Rock Lighthouse. He never again chiefly monitored a lighthouse. [2]
In November 1970, Concorde reportedly flew over the lighthouse on a trial flight and shattered panes of glass on the lighthouse. Later flights did not affect it.
In 1994, the light was automated and monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh. The lighthouse keepers accommodation has been converted into the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel. [3] [4] [5]
In 1892, three engineers who were installing a new light hid a message in a bottle at the lighthouse. The bottle and message were discovered in 2024 while the lighthouse was undergoing refurbishment. [6]
Dumfries and Galloway is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the north-east; the English county of Cumbria, the Solway Firth, and the Irish Sea to the south, and the North Channel to the west. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, located 76 miles (122 km) to the west of Dumfries on the North Channel coast.
The Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland, is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse. It was built between 1807 and 1810 by Robert Stevenson on the Bell Rock in the North Sea, 11 miles (18 km) east of the Firth of Tay. Standing 35 metres (115 ft) tall, its light is visible from 35 statute miles (56 km) inland.
Robert Stevenson, FRSE, FGS, FRAS, FSA Scot, MWS was a Scottish civil engineer, and designer and builder of lighthouses. His works include the Bell Rock Lighthouse.
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Kirkcolm is a village and civil parish on the northern tip of the Rhinns of Galloway peninsula, south-west Scotland. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, and is part of the former county of Wigtownshire. The parish is bounded on the north and west by the sea, on the east by the bay of Loch Ryan and on the south by Leswalt parish.
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The Point of Ayre Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse, sited at the Point of Ayre at the north-eastern end of the Isle of Man. It was designed and built by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of prolific writer and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, under the Isle of Man and Calf of Man Lighthouses Act 1815 and was first lit in 1818, making it the oldest operational lighthouse on the island.
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Events from the year 1817 in Scotland.
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