Lundy North Lighthouse

North Lighthouse
Devon
	Lundy
Location
Grid reference:	SS13064813
Location:	51°12’6"N, 4°40’38"W
Characteristics
History
Information
Owned by:	Trinity House

The North Lighthouse was built in 1897, as was the South Lighthouse, the two standing at the extremities of the island to replace the Old Light on Beacon Hill. Designed by Sir Thomas Matthews, both lighthouses are painted white and are run and maintained by Trinity House.

The lighthouse is a Grade II listed building.

The North Lighthouse stands 56 feet tall, slightly taller than the south one, and has a focal plane of 157 feet. It was originally lit by a 5-wick Trinity House oil burner, but this was replaced in the early 20th century with a Matthews triple-mantle (3×2.0 " (50.0 mm)) petroleum vapour burner (PVB), which was itself replaced with a Hood single-mantle (3.0 " (75.0 mm)) PVB in the 1920s. (Oil was lifted up from a small quay using a sled and winch, and then transported using a small railway (again winch-powered), the remains of which can be still seen).

The 3.5-ton lens assembly was the first in Britain to be supported on a mercury trough; manufactured by Barbier & Benard of Paris, it was a first-order revolving four-panel optic in a 'bi-valve' configuration (i.e. 2 sets of 2 panels arranged back-to-back), which displayed a group-flashing characteristic, flashing twice every 20 seconds.

When built the North lighthouse was provided with a two-tone fog siren, housed in an engine house immediately to the north (seaward) side of the tower; it sounded through a pair of upright curved horns mounted on the roof and was powered by a pair of 16 hp Hornsby oil engines. The fog signal was replaced in 1929 with a more powerful 12-inch siren, installed along with a pair of conical resonators in a cast-iron turret, which was added to the engine room roof; twin Gardner T-type diesel engines were installed at the same time to drive the air compressors. New Ruston & Hornsby diesel engines were installed in 1969 to generate electricity for a new triple-frequency electric fog signal, which sounded two blasts every thirty seconds from a curved stack of 72 Tannoy speakers built on to the front of the engine house; it was decommissioned in 1988.

In 1971 the lighthouse was converted to electricity, and the old lamp and optic were decommissioned; they were replaced by a discharge bulb, fed from the generators, and a 4th-order revolving optic mounted on an AGA gearless pedestal. This new, much smaller optic (made up of four lens panels arranged in two pairs) maintained the old characteristic (flashing twice every twenty seconds) but with a slightly increased range of 19 nautical miles.

In 1976 the keepers were withdrawn and the light was monitored from the South lighthouse until 1985, when it was fully automated. The North lighthouse was further modernised in 1991 and converted to solar power; in place of the light in the tower a small rotating lantern (an 'Orga Rml 302 SA rotating beacon with 6 position lampchanger') was mounted on top of the old fog horn building, producing a quick white flash every 15 seconds. Between 2019 and 2020 the lighthouse building underwent a major refurbishment, in the course of which the light (provided by a new LED lamp arrangement) was returned to the lantern of the tower.

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