1. History
     Construction    Optics  

2. Foghorn

3. Gallery

4. See also

5. References

6. External links

History

Construction

Start Point is one of twenty nine towers designed by James Walker. The lighthouse is in the gothic style, topped by a crenellated parapet. The main tower is built of tarred and white-painted granite ashlar with a cast-iron lantern roofed in copper. The tall circular tower is {{convert|92|ft|m|0}} high with a moulded plinth and pedestal stage and two diminishing stages above that. There are two entrances porches, on the north and south sides. The porch on the south side is blocked and has a 4-centred arch hood mould, whilst the doorway to the north porch has a Tudor arch. Both have raised parapets with Trinity House arms. The inside of the tower includes a cantilevered granite staircase around the inside well of the tower with an iron balustrade completed by a cast-iron newel.

The lighthouse originally had the keepers' living accommodation on the ground and first floors but this was removed in 1871 when new keepers' houses were built, either side of the porches to the north and south. In 1882 another cottage was built, detached from the tower, to the east. All three were designed by James Douglass (though the north and south dwellings were rebuilt in the mid-1950s).^[2]

Other nearby buildings were used by the lighthouse keepers, who originally could only get on or off the lighthouse by boat, such as the well-house^[3] and piggery^[4].

Optics

The original main optic consisted of a rotating octagonal array of eight large (first-order) Fresnel lenses, topped by seven tiers of concave mirrors.^[5][6] This was the first time Trinity House had installed a dioptric (i.e. lens-based) optic in one of their lighthouses;^[7] manufactured by Cookson & co. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the design was based on the improved dioptric system developed from the work of Augustin Fresnel by Alan Stevenson, engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board.^[8] In 1873 a new, more powerful six-panel first-order optic was installed, to James Douglass's design, in place of the old one.^[9]

The light was powered by oil until 1959 when it was electrified.^[8] At the same time the optic was replaced by a smaller (third-order) catadioptric lens, made up of two groups of three asymmetrical panels, which produced a group-flashing light characteristic.^[10]

In 2018 this rotating optic was replaced by a two-tier LED lantern;^[11] the old lens was put on display in the adjacent visitor centre.^[12]

In addition to the main light a fixed red subsidiary light is shone from a window in the tower to mark the Skerries Bank.^[8] This was commissioned at the same time as the main light (though initially it shone white, not red, and from a higher window);^[10] the original light source was a single Argand lamp backed by a 21-inch reflector),^[5] later it used light diverted by means of prisms from the rear of the main lamp.^[13]

Work began on the automation of Start Point Lighthouse in August 1992 and was carried out by LEC Marine at a cost of £82,754. It was completed in early 1993. After automation, the south keepers' cottage (which had been damaged in the 1989 the landslip) was demolished.^[10]

The station is now monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations Control Centre at Harwich in Essex via a telemetry link.

Foghorn

The light alone was found to be inadequate in fog, and a bell was installed in 1862; the machinery was housed in a small building which still stands on the cliff face to the south-east of the lighthouse.^[14] It sounded 48 times every minute, the mechanism being driven by a weight which fell in a tube running down the sheer cliff. A siren replaced the bell in 1877;^[8] (the bell was transferred to the lighthouse on Plymouth Breakwater where it still hangs).

The fog siren was housed in a circular building, just to the south of the lighthouse, and sounded through a roof-mounted horizontal horn which could be turned in the direction of the prevailing wind. Around the turn of the century new equipment was installed, including a new pair of 5" sirens sounding through a pair of curved vertical copper trumpets. This was in turn replaced by a more powerful 12" siren in 1928, again housed in the same building, sounded from a pair of conical horns housed in a cast-iron turret on the roof.^[15] At the same time a pair of Gardner diesel engines were provided to drive the air compressors, replacing an earlier set of engines.^[14]

In 1989, the erosion of the coast caused the fog signal building to collapse. A lot of the area had to be levelled as a result and retaining walls put in place. An electric signal was instead installed on the gallery of the lighthouse (this is itself scheduled for replacement by a more modern system in 2018).^[11] When required the foghorn sounds once every 60 seconds.

Gallery

See also

• List of lighthouses in England

References

External links

• [https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/start-point-lighthouse Start Point Lighthouse from Trinity House]
• Start Point Lighthouse from Lighthouse Depot

• Neverending Story
• Never Ending Story
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• Never Enough (Melissa Etheridge album)
• Never Ever (All Saints song)
• Never-exceed depth
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