Flamborough Head Lighthouse
LocationFlamborough
East Riding of Yorkshire
England
OS gridTA2543270648
Coordinates54°06′59″N 0°04′57″W / 54.116397°N 0.082553°W / 54.116397; -0.082553
Tower
Constructed1806 Edit this on Wikidata
Designed bySamuel Wyatt Edit this on Wikidata
Constructionbrick Edit this on Wikidata
Automated1996 Edit this on Wikidata
Height26.5 m (87 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Shapecylindrical tower with double balcony and lantern
Markingswhite Edit this on Wikidata
OperatorTrinity House, East Riding of Yorkshire Council Edit this on Wikidata
HeritageGrade II listed building, Grade II listed building Edit this on Wikidata
Fog signal1 blast every 90s.
Light
First lit1 December 1806 Edit this on Wikidata
Focal height65 m (213 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Lensfirst order Fresnel lens Edit this on Wikidata
Light sourceLED
Intensity433,000 candela Edit this on Wikidata
Range18 nmi (33 km; 21 mi) Edit this on Wikidata
CharacteristicFl(4) W 15s Edit this on Wikidata
Chalk Tower
Constructed1669 Edit this on Wikidata
Height24 m (79 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Shapeoctagon Edit this on Wikidata
Markingswhite Edit this on Wikidata
HeritageGrade II* listed building, scheduled monument Edit this on Wikidata
First lit1674 Edit this on Wikidata

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.[1][2]

Old lighthouse

The first lighthouse, built by Sir John Clayton, was completed in 1674 and is one of the oldest surviving complete lighthouses in England. Built from chalk, it was never lit. This is now a Grade II* listed building.[3]

Current lighthouse

The lighthouse c. 1890

The present lighthouse, designed by Samuel Wyatt and costing £8,000 to build, was first lit on 1 December 1806. It had a distinctive light characteristic of two white flashes followed by a red flash. This was provided by the lighting apparatus, which was designed by optics specialist George Robinson, who was also Chief Inspector of Lighthouses at Trinity House.[4] It consisted of a revolving vertical shaft with a three-sided frame on which were mounted 21 argand lamps, 7 on each side, with parabolic reflectors. On one of the three sides the reflectors were covered with red glass: this was the first use of red glass in a lighthouse and represented the first use of the colour as part of a light characteristic;[4] the idea was soon taken up elsewhere. According to a description of the lighthouse written in 1818, the red light was used to distinguish Flamborough's lighthouse from the one at Cromer.[5] A Victorian pilot book used the mnemonic: 'Two whites to one red / Indicates Flambro' Head'.[6]

In 1872, a new paraffin lamp was installed to the design of James Douglass.[7] Flamborough was the first Trinity House lighthouse to use paraffin, which had only lately been introduced as a lighthouse illuminant; afterwards, the Corporation upgraded all its oil burners to paraffin.[8]

Along with the new lamp, a new first-order dioptric optic was installed, by Chance Brothers of Smethwick,[9] The revolving optic was designed to maintain the lighthouse's characteristic of two white flashes followed by one red flash; the speed of revolution was changed, however, from a flash every two minutes to a flash every 30 seconds.[10] Driven by clockwork, the optic was described at the time as 'a circular frame of six faces, composed of great glass prisms, [...] the third and sixth faces having sheets of ruby glass before them to give the red effect to the light'.[6] These red-flashing lenses were made more than double the width of the clear white-flashing panels, to compensate for the reduced intensity caused by the ruby filters;[11] with a width in azimuth of 69.5°, they were at the time the widest lens panels yet constructed.[8] The alterations cost £7,000 and provided a range of 21 nautical miles (39 km; 24 mi).[6] In 1907 the speed of rotation was increased, so as to give a flash every fifteen seconds.[12]

The expanded lantern containing the lens

In 1925 the lantern was made taller, to accommodate a new 15-foot lens.[13] The lens is a large (first-order) revolving catadioptric optic made up of four asymmetrical panels; it displays four white flashes every fifteen seconds. (After the new lens was installed, the old apparatus was transferred to the Bahamas to be used as part of a programme of improvements to the lighthouses there.)[14] The light was converted from oil to electricity in 1940.

Following automation, the last lighthouse keepers left on 8 May 1996.[2] The light remains in use. East Riding of Yorkshire Council, under licence from Trinity House, operate tours of the lighthouse seasonally.[15] It is now a Grade II listed building.[16]

In 2022 the lighthouse was once again modernised: the revolving Fresnel optic was removed; it and the emergency light have been replaced by a pair of static LED lanterns.[17] As part of the modernisation programme the visible range of the light was reduced from 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) to 18 nmi (33 km; 21 mi).[18]

Fog signal station

The fog signal station: former signalmen's cottage (left) and engine house (right).

In 1859 a fog signal station was built (at some distance from the lighthouse, close to the cliff edge). Initially an 18-pound gun was used as the fog signal, sounded once every fifteen minutes.[19] A cottage was built within the compound as accommodation for the gunners.[20] In 1878, explosive rockets replaced the cannon,[21] discharged every 10 minutes in foggy weather (every five minutes from 1896)[22] and reaching an altitude of 600 feet (180 m).[2]

In 1908 an engine house was built next to the cottage and a fog siren replaced the rockets;[23] it sounded one long and one short blast, every 90 seconds, through a pair of Rayleigh trumpets mounted on the engine room roof.[24] Compressed air for the siren was provided by a pair of 22 hp Hornsby oil engines linked to a single-cylinder Hornsby compressor.[19]

In 1924 the siren was replaced by a pair of diaphones, mounted in a metal turret on top of a porch added to the front of the engine house.[25] This was itself superseded by an electric fog signal in 1975. In 2022 the signal was altered from two blasts to one long blast, every 90 seconds.[18]

The fog signal compound remains in Trinity House ownership; along with the modern fog signal apparatus, it has since 1998 accommodated a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) signal station.[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Eastern England". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Flamborough Head Lighthouse". Trinity House. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Historic England. "The Old Lighthouse (1083400)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  4. 1 2 Tag, Thomas. "Lens Use Prior to Fresnel". United States Lighthouse Society. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  5. ↑ Cotton, Joseph (1818). Memoir on the Origin and Incorporation of the Trinity House of Deptford Strond. London. p. 114.
  6. 1 2 3 Chambers, William; Chambers, Robert (1885). Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Arts (5th series, Vol. II, No. 85). W. & R. Chambers. p. 514.
  7. ↑ Elliot, George H. (1875). European Light-House Systems. London: Lockwood & co. p. 70 n.3. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  8. 1 2 Littell, Eliakim; Littell, Robert S. (1887). "Lighthouse Work in the United Kingdom". The Living Age. 174: 247.
  9. ↑ Chance, James Frederick (1902). The Lighthouse Work of Sir James Chance, Baronet (PDF). London: Smith, Elder & co. p. 118. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  10. ↑ "Monthly Abstract of Nautical Notices". The Nautical Magazine for 1872: 725. July 1872.
  11. ↑ Elliot, George H. (1875). European Light-House Systems. London: Lockwood & co. pp. 117–118. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  12. ↑ London Gazette, Issue 28030, Page 4102, 14 June 1907.
  13. ↑ "Flamborough Lighthouse at Flamborough Outer Headland". Visit Hull and East Yorkshire. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  14. ↑ "Accounts and Papers: 1926 - General Lighthouse Fund". Parliamentary Papers. 16: 8. 1926.
  15. ↑ "Flamborough Head Lighthouse visitor centre". Trinity House. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  16. ↑ Historic England. "The Lighthouse (1083399)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  17. ↑ Wood, Alexandra (11 October 2022). "Sweeping beams of Flamborough Lighthouse have been replaced by static LED lights". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  18. 1 2 "Notice to Mariners, 30/08/2022: 31/2022 Flamborough Head Lighthouse". Trinity House. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  19. 1 2 Renton, Alan (2001). Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals. Caithness, Scotland: Whittles.
  20. ↑ "Flamborough's lighthouses" (PDF). Flamborough Parish Council. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  21. ↑ London Gazette, Issue 24540, Page 119, 8 January 1878.
  22. ↑ London Gazette, Issue 26757, Page 3981, 10 July 1896.
  23. ↑ London Gazette, Issue 28142, Page 4089, 2 June 1908.
  24. ↑ Photograph c.1910s
  25. ↑ photo (1928)
  26. ↑ Millyard, Simon (Winter 2015). "The new Differential Global Positioning System". Flash (24): 6. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
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