Anvil Point Lighthouse
Anvil Point Lighthouse | |
Anvil Point Lighthouse | |
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Location | |
Grid reference: | SZ029769 |
Location: | 50°35’31"N, 1°57’36"W |
Characteristics | |
Height: | 40 feet |
Tower shape: | cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern |
Tower marking: | white tower and lantern |
Light: | Fl W 10s. |
Intensity: | 1,080 candela |
Focal height: | 148 feet |
Range: | 9 nautical miles |
Admiralty No.: | A0496 |
History | |
Built 1881 | |
Information | |
Owned by: | Trinity House |
The Anvil Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located near Swanage in Dorset, looking out on the English Channel.
History
The lighthouse is built of local stone and was completed in 1881, and opened by Joseph Chamberlain, then Minister of Transport.
The lighthouse tower is 40 feet, the height of the light above the high-water mark is 148 feet. The light is positioned to give a waypoint for vessels passing along the Channel coast.
Originally the light was illuminated by a [[paraffin vapour burner. During 1960, the lighthouse was modernised and electrified. It was fully automated on 31 May 1991 and is now monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations Control Centre at Harwich.[1]
The lighthouse had a 1,000 watt filament lamp with an intensity of 500,000 candela. The lights range was about 19 nautical miles, but was reduced to 9 nautical miles following a review of aids to navigation in 2010.[2] The old fog signal was a 5-minute cannon. The fog signal was replaced during 1981 by new automatic equipment, but it has now been discontinued. In 2012, a LED lamp was installed above the rotating Fresnel lens to serve as the main light at Anvil Point; its character is, as it was previously, a white flash every 10 seconds. The old lens, though no longer in use, remains in place in the tower.
The lighthouse is near a visitor centre and is sometimes open to the public for tours. Some of the old buildings have been refurbished as holiday cottages.
Outside links
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Anvil Point Lighthouse) |
References
- ↑ "Anvil Point Lighthouse". Trinity House. http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/events_and_leisure/visitor_centres/anvil_point.html. Retrieved 2011-08-27.
Lighthouses of Trinity House |
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Great Britain: |
Channel Islands and Gibraltar: Casquets • Europa Point • Les Hanois • Sark |