Bishop Rock Lighthouse

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Bishop Rock Lighthouse

Cornwall

Isles of Scilly

Bishop Rock Lighthouse (2005)
Location
Grid reference: SV806064
Location: 49°52’22"N, 6°26’45"W
Characteristics
Height: 167 feet
Tower shape: tapered cylindrical tower
with lantern and helipad on the top
Tower marking: unpainted tower, white lantern
Light: Fl (2) W15s.
Intensity: 600,000 Candela
Focal height: 145 feet
Range: 24 nautical miles
Admiralty No.: A0002
History
Built 1858
First lit: 1887 (rebuilt)
Information
Owned by: Trinity House

The Bishop Rock Lighthouse stands on Bishop Rock, the westernmost rock of the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall.

An 1818 Report by the Surveyor–General of the Duchy of Cornwall on the dangers to shipping in Cornwall proposed that a lighthouse be built, similar to the Eddystone Lighthouse, upon Bishop Rock, given its location as the westernmost rock of the Isles of Scilly. The plan was considered by the Government and building was expected soon, as the engineer John Rennie the Elder made an offer to build it.[1] The Government did not take up the offer.

Trinity House surveyed Bishop Rock in 1843, with a view to building a lighthouse, and work began in 1847.[2] The engineer in chief, James Walker, decided on a design for a lighthouse 120 feet tall, consisting of accommodation and a light on top of iron legs.[2] The light was never lit, since on 5 February 1850 a storm washed the tower away.[2]

In the second attempt, James Walker began building a stone structure in 1851.[2] The site presented a number of difficulties: the paucity of available land area and the slope of the rock meant that the lowest stone had to be laid below the low water level of the lowest spring tides.[3] Despite multiple problems, the tower was completed without loss of life, and the lighthouse shone its first light on 1 September 1858.[3] The total cost of the lighthouse was £34,559.[3]

In 1881, Sir James Nicholas Douglass inspected the tower and designed a renovation to reinforce the structure. The work was begun in 1882 and completed in 1887, under the supervision of Douglass's eldest surviving son, William Tregarthen Douglass.

Bishop Lighthouse has been nicknamed "King of the lighthouses", and it is indeed a very impressive structure. It is the second tallest in Britain, second only to the Eddystone Lighthouse, and altogether the money spent on reaching this lighthouse we have today has been:[4]

  • The first iron lighthouse: £12,500
  • The second lighthouse, in granite: £34,559
  • The third, improved lighthouse: £64,889

The interior of the light house consists of the following:[5] Below and inside the lighthouse are 10 floors[6] with spiral staircase to the 2nd floor with a door (made from gun metal (likely bronze) and installed in 1887[7]) that leads down an external metal (likely bronze) ladder to climb down to the large exterior base. From the base another metal ladder provides access to a stone staircase to the water line.

  • 1st floor – water tank (providing fresh water for lighthouse keeper)
  • 2nd floor – entrance room with metal door leading to exterior ladder to base below
  • 3rd floor – store room with window
  • 4th floor – 1st oil room with oil tanks formerly used to light the lamp
  • 5th floor – 2nd oil room with window
  • 6th floor – Living room for lighthouse keeper with window
  • 7th floor – Bedroom for lighthouse keeper with window
  • 8th floor – Store room
  • 9th floor – Service room
  • 10th floor – lamp

Difficulty reaching the lighthouse by boat led Trinity House to build a helipad on top of the lighthouse in 1976.[8] The tower has been fully automated since 15 December 1992.[9]

Lighthouses of Trinity House

Great Britain:
Anvil Point • Bamburgh • Bardsey • Beachy Head • Berry Head • Bishop Rock • Bull Point • Caldey Island • Coquet • Cromer • Crow Point • Dungeness • Eddystone • Farne • Flamborough • Flatholm • Godrevy • Hartland Point • Hilbre Island • Holyhead • Hurst Point • Guile Point East • Heugh Hill • Lizard • Longships • Longstone • Lowestoft • Lundy North • Lundy South • Lynmouth Foreland • Monkstone • Mumbles • Nab Tower • Nash Point • Needles • North Foreland • Pendeen • Peninnis • Point Lynas • Portland Bill • Round Island • Royal Sovereign • Skerries • Skokholm • Smalls • South Bishop • South Stack • Southwold • St Anthony's • St Bees • St Tudwal's • St Anns Head • St Catherines • Start Point • Strumble Head • Tater Du • Trevose Head • Trwyn Du • Whitby • Wolf Rock

Channel Islands and Gibraltar:

Casquets • Europa Point • Les Hanois • Sark

  1. ↑ "The Scilly Isles". The New Monthly Mazazine. December 1818. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wbritonad/cornwall/Newmag-1812-32/1818-VolX,JulDec.html. Retrieved 27 December 2012. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Nicholson, Christopher (1995). Rock lighthouses of Britain The end of an era?. Whittles Publishing. pp. 114–115. ISBN 1-870325-41-9. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Nicholson, op. cit., p. 116
  4. ↑ Bishop Rock Lighthouse Trinity House
  5. ↑ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume XVI Slice VI - Lightfoot, Joseph to Liquidation". Gutenberg.org. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41472/41472-h/41472-h.htm. Retrieved 2013-08-12. 
  6. ↑ "Bishop Rock: The Smallest Island in the World". amusingplanet.com. http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/07/bishop-rock-smallest-island-in-world.html. Retrieved 2013-12-05. 
  7. ↑ "Bishops Rock lighthouse - Bing Afbeeldingen". Bing.com. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Bishops+Rock+lighthouse&view=detail&id=813587EA885E91BDBC5AF80C8A7DC8670CE1E96F&first=233&FORM=IDFRIR. Retrieved 2013-08-12. 
  8. ↑ Nicholson, op. cit., p. 126
  9. ↑ Nicholson, op. cit., p. 127
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