Southwold Lighthouse
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox lighthouse Southwold Lighthouse is a lighthouse operated by Trinity House in the centre of Southwold in Suffolk, England. It stands on the North Sea coast, acting as a warning light for shipping passing along the east coast and as a guide for vessels navigating to Southwold harbour.
The lighthouse, which is a prominent local landmark, was commissioned in 1890, and was automated and electrified in 1938. It survived a fire in its original oil-fired lamp just six days after commissioning and today operates a 180-watt main navigation lamp. This lamp has a range of Template:Convert.<ref name="thsouthwold" />
History
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Construction of the lighthouse began in 1887, led by Sir James Douglass, Engineer in Chief of Trinity House.<ref name="thsouthwold">Southwold Lighthouse Template:Webarchive, Trinity House. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref> A light was lit on a temporary structure in February 1889 and the lighthouse itself began operating on 3 September 1890.<ref name="thsouthwold" /> Previously, three fixed lights had been displayed from the cliff at Southwold; these were now discontinued.<ref name="Gazette1890" /> Both the lantern (the uppermost part of the structure) and the optic (a first-order fixed Fresnel lens), had originally been built by Chance Brothers in 1868 for Happisburgh Low Lighthouse; they became available for re-use when the latter light was demolished in 1883.<ref name="bbcsuffolk">Point 2 – The Lighthouse Template:Webarchive, BBC News Suffolk, 2 July 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref>
Template:Stack The light was initially powered by a six-wick Argand oil burner;<ref name="pelangi">Application note 32064 – Southwold Conversion Template:Webarchive, Pelangi. Retrieved 4 January 2013.</ref> it displayed a group occulting characteristic (the light being eclipsed twice every 20 seconds)<ref name="SMuseum">Template:Cite web</ref> and had a visible range of Template:Convert.<ref name=Gazette1890>Template:Cite web</ref> The light was white, but shone red across defined sectors to the north and to the south (indicating the Barnard sands and Sizewell Bank respectively); in addition, 'spare' light, which would otherwise have shone needlessly westwards, was diverted by way of vertical condensing prisms so as to intensify these red sectors.<ref name="pelangi" />
Just six days after the light was commissioned there was a fire in the lighthouse with the burner being destroyed.<ref name="bbcsouthwold">Discovering Southwold Template:Webarchive, BBC News Suffolk, 4 July 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref><ref name="museum">The sea – Southwold's Lighthouse Template:Webarchive, Southwold Museum. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref> The inexperience of the new lighthouse keepers was blamed for the fire.<ref name="museum" />
The burner was replaced with an oil-fired light in 1906 and a petroleum burner in 1923. The light was electrified and automated in 1938,<ref name="thsouthwold" /> at which time the light characteristic was changed to group flashing, 6 flashes every 20 seconds (modified to 4 flashes in 1965).<ref name="SMuseum" /> It was converted to battery operation, with the batteries charged using mains electricity, in 2001.<ref name="bbcsuffolk" /> Until 2013 a cluster of three 90-watt Osram Halostar lamps provided the main light within the optic (which had a range of Template:Convert).
The lighthouse, along with Lowestoft Lighthouse to the north, was threatened with closure by Trinity House in 2005, with shipping companies increasingly using satellite navigation systems rather than relying on lighthouses.<ref name="bbc04aug05">Landmark lighthouses may be axed Template:Webarchive, BBC News, 4 August 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref><ref name="eadt04aug05">Barnes, Jonathan. (4 August 2005). Historic lighthouses face closure Template:Webarchive, East Anglian Daily Times, Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref> Both lighthouses were reprieved in 2009 following a review by Trinity House that found that satellite navigation systems were not yet sufficiently reliable.<ref name="torygraph12jan09">Lighthouse wins reprieve as sat nav for ships not reliable enough Template:Webarchive, The Daily Telegraph, 9 January 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref>
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Then in December 2012, the range of Southwold's light was increased to Template:Convert, to compensate for the imminent closure of Orfordness Lighthouse (which took place in June 2013).<ref name="thsouthwold" /><ref name="bbcsuffolk" /><ref name="pelangi" /><ref name="lowjournal12may11">Rogers, Lauren (12 May 2011) Southwold Lighthouse reach will be extended to keep mariners safe Template:Webarchive, Lowestoft Journal. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref><ref name="bbc18aug11">Orfordness Lighthouse: last chance for the public to visit? Template:Webarchive, BBC News Suffolk, 18 August 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref><ref name="th03aug12">Notice to mariners 38/2012 B5 Southwold LH Template:Webarchive, Trinity House, 3 August 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref><ref name="bbc28jun13">Orfordness Lighthouse gets switched-off and left to the sea Template:Webarchive, BBC Suffolk news website, 28 June 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2013.</ref> This was achieved by installing a new main light: a BLV Topspot 90 Volt Metal Halide 150-watt lamp placed within a small revolving optic.<ref name="thsouthwold" /><ref name="pelangi" /> To make space for it within the lantern room the upper prismatic section of the old optic was removed (one section was put on display at the foot of the tower, another was loaned to Happisburgh Lighthouse where it has been put on display not far from its original location).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The central and lower sections of the old lens, together with its lamp, have been retained for use as an emergency backup.<ref name="thsouthwold" />
Current display
[edit]Template:Stack Since January 2016 a 180-watt revolving MFR (LED reflector) lamp<ref name="currentlamp">Template:Cite web</ref> manufactured by Mediterraneo Sanales Maritimas has been in use as the main lamp.<ref name="thjan16">Notice to mariners 01/2016 Southwold Lighthouse Template:Webarchive, Trinity House, 15 January 2016.</ref> The current light characteristic is one white flash every 10 seconds (Fl(1).W.10s) visible between 204°–032.5°.<ref name="pelangi" /><ref name="thnotice5nov12">Notice to Mariners – 49/2012 B6 Southwold LH Template:Webarchive, Trinity House. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.</ref> The white light is used for general navigation. Red sectors, previously used to mark shoals to the north and offshore sandbanks at Sizewell to the south, were removed as part of the 2012 refit.<ref name="thsouthwold" /><ref name="pelangi" />
Buildings
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The lighthouse is Template:Convert tall, standing Template:Convert above sea level. It is built of brick and painted white, and has 113 steps around a spiral staircase.<ref name="thleaflet">See inside a lighthouse Template:Webarchive(pdf), Trinity House. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref> Two keeper's cottages were built next to the lighthouse rather than living quarters being made in the lighthouse itself.<ref name="bbcsuffolk" />
The lighthouse is a Grade II listed building.<ref name="britlist">The Lighthouse, Southwold Template:Webarchive, British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref> Guided visits are, from 2023, run by the Adnams brewery, which stands nearby, and may be booked via that company's website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The lighthouse was the site of charity abseil events in 2009, 2011 and 2013. The events raised money for the Southwold lifeboat operated by the RNLI from Southwold harbour.<ref name="journal14aug11">Bernard's Southwold lighthouse challenge Template:Webarchive, Lowestoft Journal, 14 August 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2013.</ref><ref name="eadt15aug11">Daring abseilers brave dizzying lighthouse heights Template:Webarchive, East Anglian Daily Times, 15 August 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2013.</ref><ref name="edp11aug13">Actor Bernard Hill abseils down Southwold Lighthouse for RNLI Template:Webarchive, Eastern Daily Press, 11 August 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2015.</ref>
Cultural references
[edit]The lighthouse has featured in television programmes, including an episode of Kavanagh QC<ref name="wdccampsite">Southwold Camping and Caravan Site Template:Webarchive, Waveney District Council. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref> and the children's television series Grandpa in My Pocket.<ref name="thsouthwold" /> It also appears in the art house movie Drowning by Numbers, directed by Peter Greenaway. Adnams brewery, which operates from the town, has named a pale ale Lighthouse in recognition of the importance of the lighthouse as a landmark in Southwold and has featured the lighthouse on promotional material.<ref name="torygraph12jan09" /><ref name="adnams">, Adnams Southwold. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</ref>
See also
[edit]References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Template:Lighthouse Digest
- Southwold Lighthouse at the Trinity House website
- Template:NHLE
Template:Lighthouses of Trinity House Template:Lighthouses in England