Tiumpan Head Lighthouse

Last updated

Tiumpan Head Lighthouse
Rubha Tiompan
Eastern Keeper's House, Tiumpan Head Lighthouse, Isle of Lewis.jpg
Tiumpan Head Lighthouse
Tiumpan Head Lighthouse
Location Tiumpan Head
Isle of Lewis
Outer Hebrides
Scotland
Coordinates 58°15′39.33″N6°8′20.09″W / 58.2609250°N 6.1389139°W / 58.2609250; -6.1389139 Coordinates: 58°15′39.33″N6°8′20.09″W / 58.2609250°N 6.1389139°W / 58.2609250; -6.1389139
Tower
Constructed1900
Built by David Alan Stevenson, Charles Alexander Stevenson   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Constructionmasonry tower
Automated1985
Height21 metres (69 ft)
Shapecylindrical tower with balcony and lantern
Markingswhite tower, black lantern, ochre trim
Power sourcemains electricity  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
OperatorTiumpan Head Kennels & Cattery [1] [2]
Heritagecategory C listed building  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Fog signal discontinued
Light
First lit1 December 1900  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Focal height55 metres (180 ft)
Range25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi)
Characteristic Fl (2) W 15s.

The Tiumpan Head Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located in Tiumpan Head, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland.

Contents

History

The idea for the Tiumpan Head Lighthouse in the village of Portvoller in Point, Isle of Lewis was long promoted, but refused for many years by the Board of Trade. After a recommendation by the Western Highlands and Islands Commission to additionally keep a watch on illegal trawlers, it was approved in May 1879. [3]

The lighthouse and building were designed by David and Charles Stevenson and built by John Aitken, at an estimated cost of £9000. William Frew was appointed as inspector of works. Chance Brothers made the optics and Dove and Co. the revolving machine. The light was first exhibited on 1 December 1900.

Six lightkeepers were attached to the station, three lightkeepers and their families at the station, with a local assistant and two occasional lightkeepers coming in from Portnaguran village nearby.

Elizabeth II visited the lighthouse in 1956, with the young Duke of Cornwall and the Princess Anne. The seven-year-old heir to the throne sounded the first blast on a new fog siren. The fog signal was operated by compressed air supplied from a compressor, driven by a Kelvin Diesel engine. There were three Kelvin engines and compressors, and when the fog signal was in operation, two of them were in service to maintain the required air pressure with one standby, in rotation. In 1984, the fog signal was discontinued and the fog horn building was demolished.[ citation needed ]

The lighthouse was automated in 1985 and is monitored from Edinburgh. The former keepers' accommodation is no longer needed and is now home to kennels and a cattery. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Souter Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse in England

Souter Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in the village of Whitburn, Tyne and Wear, England.. Souter Point was the first lighthouse in the world to be actually designed and built specifically to use alternating electric current, the most advanced lighthouse technology of its day. The light was generated by a carbon arc lamp: first lit on 11 January 1871, it was described at the time as 'without doubt one of the most powerful lights in the world'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevose Head Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse on the north coast of Cornwall, England

Trevose Head Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Trevose Head on the north Cornish coast at grid reference SW850766 lying to the WSW of Padstow and was sited here as there was previously no light from Land's End to Lundy and it would be visible from Cape Cornwall to Hartland Point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lizard Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse on the south coast of Cornwall, England

The Lizard Lighthouse is a lighthouse at Lizard Point, Cornwall, England, built to guide vessels passing through the English Channel. It was often the welcoming beacon to persons returning to England, where on a clear night, the reflected light could be seen 100 mi (160 km) away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Round Island Light, Isles of Scilly</span> Lighthouse

Round Island Lighthouse, in the Isles of Scilly was designed by William Tregarthen Douglass for Trinity House and completed in 1887. At the time of building it was one of three lights in the Isles of Scilly, the others being the Bishop Rock and St Agnes lighthouse. The light was modernised in 1966, automated in 1987 and the island designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1995. It is now managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, and except for the maintenance of the Grade II listed lighthouse, landing is not allowed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diaphone</span>

The diaphone is a noisemaking device best known for its use as a foghorn: It can produce deep, powerful tones, able to carry a long distance. Although they have fallen out of favor, diaphones were also used at some fire stations and in other situations where a loud, audible signal was required.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Presque Isle Light</span> Lighthouse in Michigan, United States

The New Presque Isle Light was built in 1870, at Presque Isle, Michigan, east of Grand Lake, and sits on the namesake peninsula. It is one of 149 lighthouses in Michigan, more than any other state. Because of changing shoreline particularly, or alternatively deterioration of the original building, it is not uncommon for a replacement lighthouse to be placed in the vicinity of an earlier light, in this case, the Old Presque Isle Light.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Wrath Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Cape Wrath Lighthouse at Cape Wrath was built in 1828 by Robert Stevenson and was manned until 1998, when it was converted to automatic operation by the Northern Lighthouse Board. It is located at the most North-Westerly point on the British mainland, in the traditional county of Sutherland within Highland Region. Durness is the closest village, 10 miles (16 km) to the south-east with Inverness around 120 miles (190 km) to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lighthouse keeper</span> Profession in the shipping industry

A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as "wickies" because of their job trimming the wicks.

Turn Point Light Station Lighthouse

The Turn Point Light Station is an active aid to navigation overlooking Haro Strait from the western tip of Stuart Island, San Juan County, Washington, in the northwest of the United States. The light marks a sharp turn in the shipping lanes at the transition between Haro Strait and Boundary Pass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killantringan Lighthouse</span>

Killantringan Lighthouse is a lighthouse located near Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. The light came into operation in 1900, and served as a waypoint in the North Channel of the Irish Sea. The name Killantringan is derived from Cill shaint Ringain, 'St Ringan's chapel'; Ringan is a mediaeval variation of Ninian. The lighthouse is protected as a category B listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rua Reidh Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Rua Reidh Lighthouse stands close to the entrance to Loch Ewe in Wester Ross, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Needles Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

The Needles Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse on the outermost of the chalk rocks at The Needles on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, near sea level. Designed by James Walker, for Trinity House at a cost of £20,000. It was completed in 1859 from granite blocks, stands 33.25 metres (109.1 ft) high and is a circular tower with straight sides. It replaced an earlier light tower on top of a cliff overhanging Scratchell's Bay, which was first lit on 29 September 1786.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eilean Glas Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Eilean Glas Lighthouse is situated on the east coast of the island of Scalpay in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It was one of the original four lights commissioned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights, and the first in the Hebrides. These lighthouses were built by Thomas Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Catherine's Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse on the southernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England

St Catherine's Lighthouse is a lighthouse located at St Catherine's Point at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight. It is one of the oldest lighthouse locations in Great Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flamborough Head Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Flamborough Head Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located at Flamborough, East Riding of Yorkshire. England. Flamborough Head Lighthouse acts as a waypoint for passing deep sea vessels and coastal traffic, and marks Flamborough Head for vessels heading towards Scarborough and Bridlington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barra Head Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse on the Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Barra Head Lighthouse on Barra Head identifies the southern entrance to The Minch, roughly halfway between the Eilean Glas and Rinns of Islay lighthouses. The 58-foot (18-metre) stone tower, built in 1833, stands on the west side of the island, at the top of a very steep cliff, making the light the highest in the UK with a focal plane of 208 m (682 ft) above sea level. It has a range of 18 nautical miles. There is no shallow water west of Berneray to break the blow of the Atlantic storms and small fish are sometimes thrown onto the grass on the cliff top. In 1836 Sir Archibald Geikie recorded the movement of a 42-long-ton (43-tonne) block of gneiss across 5 feet (1.5 m) of ground during a violent storm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butt of Lewis Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, designed by David Stevenson, was built at Butt of Lewis to aid shipping in the 1860s. Unusual for a lighthouse in Scotland, it is constructed of red brick, and is unpainted. The station was automated in 1998, one of the last to be converted. A modern differential GPS base station has now been sited on a nearby hill to further aid navigation. This hill was also the site for a Lloyd's Signal Station from the 1890s.

Three lighthouses can be found around the shores of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde. One is located on the island of Pladda in the south and the other two can be found on Holy Island in Lamlash Bay to the east of Arran. All three are still in service and maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board. They are now fully automatic since the electrification of both lighthouses on Holy Isle in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maughold Head Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Maughold Head Lighthouse is an active 20th century lighthouse, located on the headland of the same name at the southern end of Ramsey Bay on the eastern coast of the Isle of Man. Completed in 1914, it was designed by David A and Charles Stevenson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Abb's Head Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

St Abb's Head Lighthouse stands on the cliffs at the rocky promontory of St Abb's Head, near the village of St Abbs in Berwickshire.

References

  1. Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Scotland: Western Isles". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  2. Tiumpan Head Northern Lighthouse Board. Retrieved 21 May 2016
  3. "Tiumpan Head". Northern Lighthouse Board . Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  4. "Tiumpan Head". Gazetteer for Scotland . Retrieved 15 January 2011.