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Bull Point Lighthouse

Coordinates: 51°11′57″N 4°12′04″W / 51.19917°N 4.20111°W / 51.19917; -4.20111
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Bull Point Lighthouse
Bull Point Lighthouse
Map
LocationMortehoe
Devon
England
Coordinates51°11′56.8″N 4°12′04.4″W / 51.199111°N 4.201222°W / 51.199111; -4.201222
Tower
Constructed1879 (first)
1972 (second)
Constructionbrick tower (current)
metal skeletal tower (second)
Automated1975
Height11 m (36 ft)
Shapecylindrical tower with balcony and lantern attached to 1-storey keeper's house
Markingsunpainted tower, white lantern
OperatorRural Retreats[1]
Light
First lit1974 (current)
Focal height54 m (177 ft)
Lenssmall 6 panel 3rd order catadioptric optic
Intensity89,900 candela
Range24 nmi (44 km)
CharacteristicFl (3) W 10s.

Bull Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Bull Point, about one mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Mortehoe, on the northern coast of Devon, England. The lighthouse provides a visual aid to the villages of Mortehoe, Woolacombe and Ilfracombe, and warns of the inhospitable and rocky coast that lines the area.

The old lighthouse

The original lighthouse was constructed in 1879 after a group of local "clergy, ship-owners, merchants and landowners" appealed to Trinity House for one.[2] It was built on Bull Point, though the Maritime Corporations of the Bristol Channel seaboard had lobbied strongly for it to be placed offshore on the Morte Stone (a local hazard to shipping).[3]

Bull Point Lighthouse was a two-storey round tower, 30 ft (9.1 m) high and 13 ft (4.0 m) wide, built of local stone and Blue Lias lime, and faced with Portland cement;[3] it was topped by a large cylindrical lantern to give a total height of 55 feet (17 m).[4] Inside, the light-source (a Douglass six-wick oil-powered lamp) was set within a revolving first-order optic, manufactured (along with the lantern) by Chance Brothers of Smethwick. The optic, consisting of three asymmetric lens panels backed by a dioptric mirror,[4] was an early example of the application of group-flashing lens technology (introduced by Dr John Hopkinson of Chance Brothers in 1874).[5] Rotated by a weight-driven clockwork, it displayed three white flashes every half minute at an elevation of 154 ft (47 m) above mean high water springs.[6] A fixed red sector light was also displayed, from a window in the tower, to mark the Morte Stone; this used light diverted by lenses from the landward side of the main light source.[7]

A fog siren was also provided,[8] powered by two 12 h.p. caloric engines (provided by Brown & co. of New York);[7] it gave three blasts every two minutes.[9] The fog signal equipment was housed in a separate engine room, built (together with a coke store and a small workshop) on the seaward side of the tower; it sounded through a single vertical horn, which was designed to rotate so that it could be angled to face into the wind when in use.[4] On the landward side of the tower, a set of dwellings were constructed 'for two married keepers and one married assistant'.[3] The dwellings, tower and engine room were linked by passageways; they were set, along with gardens and outbuildings, in a 12,000 sq ft compound.

In 1919 a new twin-siren fog signal was installed, sounded through a pair of 'Rayleigh trumpets',[10] together with a new set of 24 h.p. Hornsby oil engines in the engine room providing compressed air.[11]

The light was electrified in 1960[12] when the lighthouse was connected to mains electricity. At the same time a new motor-driven optic was installed, providing an 800,000 candlepower light visible at a distance of 18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi),[13] and a new twin-diaphone fog signal was installed,[14] the Rayleigh trumpets being replaced by a set of rectangular exponential horns.[11] Compressed air was provided by a pair of Reavell compressor sets (one diesel, the other electric) supplied by Petters Ltd (who also provided a standby generator in case the mains supply failed).[13]

The new lighthouse

In September 1972 the headland on which the lighthouse stood subsided making the structure dangerous.[15] Trinity House used an old light tower from Braunton Sands for two years whilst a new structure was rebuilt further inland.[7] This was completed in 1974 at a cost of £71,000 and is currently in use; much equipment was reused from the old lighthouse, including the 1960 optic and fog signal. The sector light was also retained.[14] It was fully automated from completion, stands 11 metres tall, has a light intensity of 800,000 candelas and can be seen for 24 nmi (44 km).[16] The triple F-type diaphone foghorn was switched off in 1988, but inside the redundant equipment remains intact.[11] The lighthouse was automated in 1995.

The site can be reached by an adjacent public footpath, although the lighthouse compound itself is private property and not accessible to visitors. The old lighthouse keepers' cottages are now being let out to tourists as self-catering holiday establishments.

  • Lighthouse at Bull Point, a mile north of Mortehoe, North Devon
    Lighthouse at Bull Point, a mile north of Mortehoe, North Devon
  • The lighthouse compound viewed from the sea
    The lighthouse compound viewed from the sea

See also

References

  1. ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Southwest England (Devon and Cornwall)". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  2. ^ "A harder walk over coastal heathlands via Damage Barton and Bull Point Lighthouse". Lee Bay North Devon. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  3. ^ a b c "Lighthouse Building". The Builder. 36: 571. 1 June 1878.
  4. ^ a b c Ashpitel, F. W. (1895). Report on Light-house Construction and Illumination. Madras: Government Press. p. 87.
  5. ^ Littell, Eliakim; Littell, Robert S. (1887). "Lighthouse Work in the United Kingdom". The Living Age. 174: 246.
  6. ^ Tugwell, George (1877). The North Devon Hand book (4th ed.). Ilfracombe: Twiss & Son. p. 54.
  7. ^ a b c "Bull Point Lighthouse". Woolacombe & Mortehoe Voice. Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Fog Signals". Parliamentary Papers, Volume LXIV. 23 (337): 2–4. 1 August 1879.
  9. ^ Bedford, E. J. (1879). Sailing Directions for the Bristol Channel. London: Admiralty, Hydrographic Office. pp. 34–35. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  10. ^ photo
  11. ^ a b c Renton, Alan (2001). Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals. Caithness, Scotland: Whittles.
  12. ^ "Bull Point Lighthouse". Trinity House. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  13. ^ a b "Diesel Power for Bull Point Lighthouse". Diesel Engineering. 56: 81. 1961.
  14. ^ a b "World Wide Lighthouses". Bull Point Lighthouse. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  15. ^ photo
  16. ^ "Bull Point Lighthouse". Trinity House. Archived from the original on 29 December 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
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51°11′57″N 4°12′04″W / 51.19917°N 4.20111°W / 51.19917; -4.20111

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