Location | Penmon Anglesey Wales United Kingdom |
---|---|
Coordinates | 53°18′47″N4°02′26″W / 53.312994°N 4.040630°W |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1838 |
Built by | James Walker |
Construction | stone tower |
Automated | 1922 |
Height | 29 m (95 ft) |
Shape | cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern |
Markings | white and black bands tower, white lantern |
Operator | Trinity House [1] [2] |
Heritage | Grade II* listed building |
Fog signal | bell stroke once every 30s. |
Light | |
Focal height | 19 m (62 ft) |
Lens | 1st Order catadioptric fixed |
Intensity | 3,088 candela |
Range | 12 nmi (22 km) |
Characteristic | Fl W 5s. |
Trwyn Du Lighthouse, also known as Penmon Lighthouse, [3] is a lighthouse between Black Point near Penmon and Ynys Seiriol, or Puffin Island, at the eastern extremity of Anglesey, marking the passage between the two islands.
The first lighthouse was erected in 1838, at a price of £11,589. There had been a call for a light at this location for some years by master shipmen in the nearby city of Liverpool, especially after the steamer the Rothsay Castle ran aground and broke up on nearby Lavan Sands in 1831 with 130 people losing their lives. [4]
The present Lighthouse, built 1835–1838, is 29 metres (95') tall and was designed by James Walker. It was his first sea-washed tower, and a prototype for his more ambitious tower on the Smalls.
The Lighthouse has a stepped-base designed to discourage the huge upsurge of waves that had afflicted earlier lighthouses on the site and reduce the force of the water at the bottom of the tower.
Austere vertical walls, instead of the usual graceful lines of other rock towers, are probably an economy measure. The tower has a crenellated stone parapet, in preference to iron railings on the gallery, and narrows in diameter above the half-way point. These are features used by Walker in his other lighthouse designs. The tower is distinguished by its original three black bands painted on a white background. Its also bears the words "NO PASSAGE LANDWARD" on its north and south sides.
Walker also pioneered, unsuccessfully, the use of a primitive water closet, comprising a specially designed drain exiting at the base of the tower. The stepped design of the lighthouse may have helped water exit the closet, but surges of seawater made its use difficult during heavy weather.
The light-source initially was a 4-wick Argand lamp, set within a first-order fixed catadioptric optic manufactured by Isaac Cookson & co. [5] It displayed a fixed red light.
One of the many lighthouse keepers was Joseph Steer, born in 1831 at Bovey Tracey, Devon. [6]
In 1922 Trwyn Du became the first Trinity House lighthouse to be automated, [7] when it was converted to unwatched acetylene operation. [8]
The lamp was converted to solar power in 1996 and the lighthouse was modernised extensively at that time.
At present the Lighthouse has a 15,000 candela light that flashes once every 5 seconds and can be seen 12 nmi (22 km) away. Additionally, a 178-kilogram (3½ cwt) fog bell sounds once every thirty seconds. [9] There was also a lifeboat station built in 1832, nearby, but this closed in 1915.
The tower has been unmanned since 1922 and is checked from Holyhead Control Centre. In August 2019 Trinity House started trials of a new fog horn, stating, "The bell is activated by an ageing electronic striker mechanism which no longer provides the assurance of reliability which is needed." [10]
Penmon Point is accessible by heading east out of Beaumaris and through Llangoed. For a small fee you can go along a toll road and park very close to the lighthouse or park for free about a mile from the lighthouse. The area around Dinmor contains a cafe, shop and toilets [11] and is good for fishing.
Longships Lighthouse is an active 19th-century lighthouse about 1.25 mi (2.0 km) off the coast of Land's End in Cornwall, England. It is the second lighthouse to be built on Carn Bras, the highest of the Longships islets which rises 39 feet (12 m) above high water level. In 1988 the lighthouse was automated, and the keepers withdrawn. It is now remotely monitored from the Trinity House Operations & Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.
Coquet Island is a small island of about 6 hectares, situated 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) off Amble on the Northumberland coast, northeast England. It is included in the civil parish of Hauxley.
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The Rothsay Castle was a paddle steamer built in 1816 for service on the River Clyde, Scotland, and was later transferred to Liverpool, England, where she was used for day trips along the coast of North Wales. She was shipwrecked on the Lavan Sands at the eastern end of the Menai Strait, North Wales, in 1831, with the loss of 130 lives.
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.
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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.
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The Lynde Point Light or Lynde Point Lighthouse, also known as Saybrook Inner Lighthouse, is a lighthouse in Connecticut, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Connecticut River on the Long Island Sound, Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The first light was a 35 feet (11 m) wooden tower constructed by Abisha Woodward for $2,200 and it was completed in 1803. A new lighthouse was eventually needed and a total of $7,500 was appropriated on July 7, 1838. Jonathan Scranton, Volney Pierce, and John Wilcox were contracted to build the new 65-foot (20 m) octagonal brownstone tower. It was constructed in 1838 and lit in 1839. The lighthouse was renovated in 1867 and had its keeper's house from 1833 replaced in 1858 with a Gothic Revival gambrel-roofed wood-frame house. In 1966, the house was torn down and replaced by a duplex house. The original ten lamps were replaced in 1852 with a fourth-order Fresnel lens, and with a fifth-order Fresnel lens in 1890. Lynde Point Lighthouse used whale oil until 1879 when it switched to kerosene. It was electrified in 1955 and fully automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1978. In 1990, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and is significant for its "superior stone work in the tapering brownstone walls".
Penmon is a promontory, village and ecclesiastical parish on the eastern tip of the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the town of Beaumaris. It is in the community of Llangoed. The name comes from Welsh: pen and Môn, which is the Welsh word for Anglesey. It is the site of a historic monastery and associated 12th-century church. Walls near the well next to the church may be part of the oldest remaining Christian building in Wales. Penmon also has an award-winning beach and the Anglesey Coastal Path follows its shores. Quarries in Penmon have provided stone for many important buildings and structures, including Birmingham Town Hall and the two bridges that cross the Menai Strait. The area is popular with locals and visitors alike for its monuments, tranquillity, bracing air and fine views of Snowdonia to the south across the Menai Strait.
Point Lynas Lighthouse is located on a headland in Llaneilian Community, on the north-east corner of Anglesey in North Wales. A pilot station was established on the point in 1766, to guide ships entering and leaving Liverpool, with an associated lighthouse added in 1779. The present building was built on the hilltop in 1835, so does not need a tower. Built and managed by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, it did not come under the care of Trinity House until 1973. By 2001 the lights were fully automated, so no resident staff were needed. Whilst the light is retained in operational use, the building and associated lighthouse keepers cottages were returned to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board who sold them to be a private home and holiday accommodation.
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