Lighthouses of The South West

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	Lighthouses of England Page 6: The South West - Devon & Cornwall This page is under construction
	This page is one of a series devoted to postcards and photographs of British lighthouses. This page covers the south western counties of Devon & Cornwall. In addition to the major lighthouses, the page shows other navigational lights and beacons where possible.

Teignmouth has a tall local grey limestone circular tower lighthouse with a traditional light currently operated by the local Port Authority and situated on the south end of Den promenade. Built in 1845 the tower is 37 feet high and the light is visible for 6 miles.

Teignmouth was once a seaport and market town, but today it is now a popular holiday seaside resort at the mouth of the River Teign on the coast of East Devon. On the Western end of the promenade on the sea front, or the Den as it is known locally, is a small lighthouse and a pier. The entrance to Teignmouth Harbour has always been treacherous and ships experience difficulty in avoiding the Ness Rocks. In the early 1840s Teignmouth Harbour Commissioners decided to erect a lighthouse as an aid to shipping, and a tower was built of blocks of local limestone during the years 1844 – 1845 with the light being shone for the first time in 1845. One account gives the cost as £300, but another quotes a figure of £196 7s. The difference may be that the higher figure includes the lantern or labour costs that might have been omitted from the lower account.

The Earl of Devon, who was Lord of the Manor of East Teignmouth and who owned the land on which the lighthouse was built, paid the surveyor’s fee. The circular grey tower is 28 feet high with walls 2 feet thick. Inside is a spiral stone staircase running around the sides until it reaches the light, which is exhibited 34 feet above high water. Originally there were steps leading up to the small access door, but these have been removed when the ground around was levelled. The light is and always has been a fixed red light and is really a beacon or leading light. When the lighthouse was first built there was criticism about the light’s efficiency, but the matter was referred to an Admiralty Court of Enquiry, who proclaimed both the equipment and the structure satisfactory. The lighthouse has never had a keeper, resident or otherwise; never been open to the public, and because of its size, has mistakenly been referred to in Guides as a toy lighthouse. However it is not; it is a real navigational aid. In Powderham Terrace and close to the Lynton House Hotel, some 200 feet behind the lighthouse is the second leading light, which is a tall pole with a red polycarbonate navigational lamp fixed on the top.

Today the lighthouse is kept clean and maintained by the Harbour Master. It shows a fixed red light visible for 3 miles and when lined up with the leading light behind it provides a safe passage across the sand bars at the mouth of the Teign.

Ref: www.mycetes.co.uk
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Brixham's Victoria breakwater stretches half a mile out into tor bay, protecting the large fishing harbour and is marked by a 9 metre high cast iron lighthouse at its extremity. A light was established in 1878, although the current light dates from 1916. The tower is painted white and has a lantern, gallery and is accessed via a small door on its side. Shown from the small domed lantern-room is a red occulting light which goes out once every 15 seconds, for a duration of 3 seconds.

Next to the main red light is a quick flashing orange light, which distinguishes the red light from the lights in the town. The red light it is visible for 18 Nautical Miles. The light is maintained by Tor Bay Harbour Marine Services.

Ref:- www.worldwidelighthouses.com

Berry Head, designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty, is an extensive limestone headland. The near-perpendicular cliffs rise 60m and the constant action of the waves has gouged out huge caverns. The plateau is green with plants, some of which are rare: pink thrift, white sea campion, autumn squill, wild rock rose, goldilocks and honewort. The rocks and cliffs abound with jackdaws, pigeons, kestrels, kittiwakes, gulls and guillemots. Fine views are to be had and it is possible on a clear day to see Portland Bill, over thirty-five miles away.

Torbay and Brixham Roads have long been sheltered anchorages, surrounded as they are by high hills and cliffs. Fortifications were erected on the headland in 1793 against threatened invasion by French armies and strengthened with limestone in 1803, when gun batteries were added to protect the anchorages. They were dismantled by 1820 and returned to civilian use, but the ramparts remain, overgrown with ivy.

At the end of Berry Head, beyond the coastguard station, is the lighthouse, which forms part of the chain of south coast beacons. The lighthouse, which was built in 1906, was converted to unwatched acetylene operation in 1921 and modernised and converted to mains electricity in 1994. It came to be known as the smallest, highest and deepest light in the British Isles - the tower is diminutive, requiring no further elevation than that given by the headland itself, and the optic was originally turned by the action of a weight falling down a 45m deep shaft, now made redundant by a small motor.

Ref:- www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses/lighthouse_list/berry_head

Start Point is one of the most exposed peninsulas on the English Coast, running sharply almost a mile into the sea on the South side of Start Bay near Dartmouth. The Lighthouse, sited at the very end of the headland, has guided vessels in passage along the English Channel for over 150 years.

James Walker designed Start Point Lighthouse in 1836 and it owes much to the "gothic" movement in architecture of the time, with its battlemented parapet. Two white lights were originally exhibited, one revolving and one fixed to mark the Skerries Bank. A fixed red subsidiary light still marks this hazard. The optic used was the first of its kind in the Trinity House Service, being an approved form of Dioptric apparatus designed by Alan Stevenson, whose major work was the optic at the Skerryvore Lighthouse of 1844. Even so, the light was found to be inadequate in fog, and a bell was installed in the 1860s. The machinery was housed in a small building on the cliff face and operated by a weight which fell in a tube running down the sheer cliff. A siren replaced the bell after only fifteen years. In 1871, the intermediate floors of the tower of 1836 were removed and extra accommodation provided in common with all Trinity House Stations. An insight into the Lighthouse and the life of its keepers in the nineteenth century is given in a travelogue by Walter White:-

A substantial house, connected with the tall circular tower, in a walled enclosure, all nicely whitened, is the residence of the light-keepers. The buildings stand within a few yards of the verge of the cliff, the wall serving as a parapet, from which you look down on the craggy slope outside and the jutting rocks beyond - the outermost point. You may descend by the narrow path, protected also by a low white wall, and stride and scramble from rock to rock with but little risk of slipping, so rough are the surfaces with minute shells. A rude steep stair, chipped in the rock, leads down still lower to a little cove and a narrow strip of beach at the foot of the cliffs. It is the landing place for the lighthouse keepers when they go fishing, but can only be used in calm weather.

In recent years the ground under the fog signal house has become insecure finally resulting in the collapse of the building in December 1989. Since then the site has been levelled, a new retaining wall built and a free standing fog signal stack put in place.

Work began on the automation of Start Point Lighthouse in August 1992; this was carried out by LEC Marine at a cost of £82,754 and was completed in early 1993. The station is now monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations and Planning Centre at Harwich in Essex via a telemetry link.

Ref:- http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses/lighthouse_list/start_point.html

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