Year first lit 1875 (current) Focal height 35 m (115 ft) Opened 1875 Year first constructed 1795 | Construction granite tower Height 35 m Automated 1988 Architect James Nicholas Douglass | |
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Location Land's End
Cornwall
England Tower shape tapered cylindrical tower with lantern and helipad on the top Markings / pattern unpainted tower, white lantern Similar Wolf Rock Lighthouse, Longships, Tater Du Lighthouse, Bishop Rock - Isles of Scilly, Round Island Light - Isle | ||
Lands end and longships lighthouse cornwall england
Longships Lighthouse is a navigation aid about 1.25 mi (2.01 km) off the coast of Lands End in Cornwall, England, UK. It stands on Carn Bras, the highest of the Longships islets which rises 39 feet (12 m) above high water level. The lighthouse has been unmanned since 1988.
Contents
- Lands end and longships lighthouse cornwall england
- Map of Longships Lighthouse United Kingdom
- Storm doris battering the longships lighthouse off lands end in cornwall england
- History
- Operation
- References
Map of Longships Lighthouse, United Kingdom
Storm doris battering the longships lighthouse off lands end in cornwall england
History
The original tower was built in 1795 to the design of Trinity House architect Samuel Wyatt. The lantern was 79 feet (24 m) above sea level but very high seas obscured its light.
In 1869 Trinity House began constructing a replacement. The building of the present granite tower used much of the equipment that had previously been used in the construction of the Wolf Rock Lighthouse. The tower was first lit in December 1873 having cost £43,870 to build. Even after these improvements, the S.S. Bluejacket was wrecked on rocks near the lighthouse on a clear night in 1898, nearly demolishing the lighthouse in the process.
Operation
The current lantern, which has a range of 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi), emits one long five-second flash every ten seconds. Seaward flashes are white but they become red - due to tinted sectors - for any vessel straying too close to either Cape Cornwall to the north or Gwennap Head to the south-southeast.
Fog horn signals sound every ten seconds.