lighthouses

ba

why are some lighthouses white, white with black bands or granite? is there navigational meaning to these variations?

thanks

joewicklow

Just Google your question.........

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_lighthouses_striped

ba

thanks. had been unsuccessful googling the query before. So it must be a case-by-case basis for deciding the colour of a lighthouse. But there seem to be relatively few options, black, white, b&w stripes, or granite.

I thought for a moment, that all lighthouses on islands, were striped... but saw that Hook Head lighthouse was striped too. So was rather confused.

lightkeeper

the colours of a lighthouse are there for a reason everyone of them are different they call this the day mark.as the light on every lighthouse is different and this is the night mark also when we had fog signals they were all different to each other

Judgement Day

I like lighthouses and have always wanted to stay in one, although I'm not sure whether something as remote as Fastnet (below) would be my first choice. Remember the trapped in the lighthouse scenes from "The Day of the Triffids"....:eek:



However, Wicklow Head lighthouse is available to rent from the Irish Landmark Trust - not cheap - but a holiday with a difference and perhaps a place to write that spooky novel you've always dreamed of?


http://www.irishlandmark.com/PropertyInformation.aspx?PropertyCode=WLH

Tabnabs

Have a read all about our own Lighthouse Service

http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/history.aspx

who the fug

Building lighthouses is how William Martin Murphy family made their money, they were equivalent to the Lighthouse Stephenson’s in the South West.

Corsendonk

who the fug wrote: »

Building lighthouses is how William Martin Murphy family made their money, they were equivalent to the Lighthouse Stephenson’s in the South West.

Didn't he build the Rockabill?

Corsendonk

ba wrote: »

why are some lighthouses white, white with black bands or granite? is there navigational meaning to these variations?

thanks

Poolbeg and North Bull Lighthouses seem to be coloured Red and Green for navigation.

Wiki

The Poolbeg Lighthouse is painted red. The green lighthouse in Dublin bay is the North Bull lighthouse, a couple of yards off the end of the North Bull Wall, and another lighthouse sits out in the bay itself. Green is for starboard (right) and red is for port (left) - presumably its right and left as you enter Dublin port (travelling from west to east) so the north would be on your right/starboard and is therefore green and the south would be on your left/port and is therefore red.

jonniebgood1

Judgement Day wrote: »

However, Wicklow Head lighthouse is available to rent from the Irish Landmark Trust - not cheap - but a holiday with a difference and perhaps a place to write that spooky novel you've always dreamed of?

Wicklow head was one of the most original lighthouses in the British Isles. It is octagonal in shape and 6 storey in height.
Poolbeg was one of the first to be converted from candle light to oil lamps and also the first 'wave swept' lighthouse in Ireland (industrial Ireland -1750-1930. pg 406)

MarchDub

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

Wicklow head was one of the most original lighthouses in the British Isles.

If you are going to use the term 'British Isles' do so with caution. There is no accepted valid entity known as 'British Isles' and it is regarded as being controversal. Here is part of a Dail debate on the subject.

Dáil Éireann - Volume 606 - 28 September, 2005
Written Answers - Official Terms.
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
593. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if there is an official Government or Department of Foreign Affairs position on the use of the term British Isles when referring to Ireland and Britain; if the use of this term by Government agencies and the media in Britain is discouraged in any way by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24442/05]
Mr. D. Ahern Mr. D. Ahern
Mr. D. Ahern: The British Isles is not an officially recognised term in any legal or inter-governmental sense. It is without any official status. The Government, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, does not use this term.
406
Our officials in the Embassy of Ireland, London, continue to monitor the media in Britain for any abuse of the official terms as set out in the [406] Constitution of Ireland and in legislation. These include the name of the State, the President, Taoiseach and others.

http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/D/0606/D.0606.200509280360.html

Judgement Day

Should we also have a debate about the naming of the Irish Sea? Why does ever thread have to be dragged down to this sort of crap? Are you interested in lighthouses? If so, why not say something about them?

MarchDub

Judgement Day wrote: »

Should we also have a debate about the naming of the Irish Sea? Why does ever thread have to be dragged down to this sort of crap? Are you interested in lighthouses? If so, why not say something about them?

There is no need to get nasty - the forum is history and the terminology has some interesting imperialist historic basis belong to the Tudor period.

As for lighthouses, yes, I like them.

Corsendonk

Slightly off topic

http://www.skerrieshomepage.f2s.com/rockabilllighthouse.htm

Rockabill lies about five kilometres off the shore in an easterly direction, and is clearly visible from Skerries. The name comes from the Irish name for the rock - Carraig Dá Bheola, meaning "Two Lips Rock". The depth of the sea around Rockabill is between 7 and 9 fathoms, and the rock was obviously a danger to shipping, especially at night. A light was sought for the rock by the Drogheda Harbour Commissioners in 1837, and they stated that the shipping which frequented Drogheda would cheerfully pay a toll towards a light on Rockabill. The authority, which controlled the building of lighthouses at that time was called the Trinity Board, and in 1838 they refused to build a lighthouse on Rockabill. However fifteen years later, in 1853, the Board changed its mind and granted permission. Plans were prepared for the lighthouse, and in 1855 the work began.
The builders were two brothers from Limerick, William and James Burgess. The chief materials used were granite from the Mourne Mountains in Co. Down and limestone from the local quarry in Milverton. The tower was built 83 feet high and the total cost of all the buildings, and apparatus, was £13,248 .The building was completed and the light was first operated on 1st. July 1860. Coal gas, supplied from a gas producing plant on the rock, provided the light until 1905. Throughout those years the lightkeepers had trouble from the gas system, as it regularly suffered damage from storms and corrosion.
From 1905 the light was powered by paraffin until 1980, when it was converted to electricity. A fog signal was established on Rockabill in 1918, and a radio telephone was installed in 1952. The lighthouse was relieved by a local boat from Skerries, or by one of the vessels owned by the Trinity Board, until 1970. From then it was relieved by helicopter. There were a total of six lightkeepers doing duty on the rock. Three were stationed on the rock doing four weeks duty at a time, while the other three had four weeks liberty. The keepers and their families lived in houses specially built for them in Harbour Road. These houses were sold in 1975, and sadly the lighthouse became fully automatic, and was demanned in March 1989.

jonniebgood1

Judgement Day wrote: »

I like lighthouses and have always wanted to stay in one, although I'm not sure whether something as remote as Fastnet (below) would be my first choice.

Fastnet has an interesting past. It caused problems in its construction before they got it right due to the conditions

The first lighthouse to be built there was finished in 1854 and made of cast iron, but by 1865 the fierce Atlantic waves had swept away part of the rock upon which it stood and it seemed that the tower would not stand up to the weather. In 1896 granite blocks were shipped in from Cornwall to build a new lighthouse. This was not completed and in working order until 1906. The foreman in charge of its construction, James Cavanagh, sometimes stayed on site for a year at a time! http://www.baltimore.ie/fastnet-rock.html

There seems to be a visitor centre at mizenhead that has information about fastnet although the website has'nt been updated in 5 years. http://www.mizenhead.net/rates.html

It also goes into more detail on the background of fastnet.

Mr. William Douglass, the Commissioners of Irish Lights’ engineer, surveyed the Rock for a new site for the tower. He proposed a granite tower 42’ in diameter at the lowest course and 147’ in height with the focal plane of the light at 159’ above high-water mark. The cost was estimated at £70,387.

After much negotiation between the Commissioners, the Board of Trade and Trinity House, the Board of Trade sanctioned the expenditure for the building of the new Lighthouse on November 28th. 1895.

Mr. Douglass increased the diameter of the base of the tower to 52’. The first course of stone is 6” below high-water mark. The first ten courses are built into the natural rock. After twenty-five courses there are 5 courses with built-in water storage tanks. The entrance floor is at a height of 57.75’ above high water.

Above the entrance floor the masonry of the tower extends to a height of 88’. It is divided into seven rooms with granite floors.
.......

The stone for the construction came from cornwall as they wanted a particular type of granite. I think this would emphasise the importance of lighthouses at the time with the effort and time that went into this construction. The foreman of the construction was to die soon after the construction was finished. I find the logistics of constructing a project such as this to be fascinating given the technology at the time

The first courses were laid in June 1899 and the masonry work was completed in May 1903. A total of 89 courses consisting of 2,074 stones, having a nett cubic content of 58,093 cubic feet and weighing 4,300 tons, were landed and set in 118 working days. In addition 4,500 cubic feet of granite blocks used to fill in holes in the foundation and the space between tower and rock up to the level of the Entrance gallery.

The granite stones were brought from Messrs. John Freeman and Sons of Penryn, Cornwall. Good hard granite was needed for the base, but as it would be covered with seaweed its pure colour and coarse grain were not important. For the upper courses, hard fine-grained uniform coloured stone was bought.

The stones were cut with dovetail joints in all directions to interlock and give strength to the tower. No stone can be removed unless all stones are removed from above it. This system of dovetail toggles bonds the entire structure into a monolith.

The entire tower was erected in sections of 6 – 8 courses in the contractor’s yard in Cornwall where Mr. Douglass or Mr. Foot, the Resident Engineer, inspected them before they were dismantled and transported to Rock Island. They were checked rigorously at the Rock Island yard again before they were transported on the ‘Ierne’ to the Fastnet Rock.

The ‘SS Ierne’ was specially built for carrying the stones. A powerful steam winch and derrick deposited the stones on two tiers of rollers on the deck. The ‘Ierne’ moored onto three buoys next to the quay. The stones were lifted into the water with derricks from the quay and lifted from the water with the ship’s derrick onto the deck. At the Rock, the stones were lifted by means of a series of pulleys and masts up to the new course. The main mast was held in a 16” diameter hole in the stones at the centre of the floor at each storey.

James Kavanagh, the foreman, joined the project in 1896. He was to stay with the construction on the Rock until the last course, 89, was finished in June 1903. He went ashore at the end of June complaining of sickness. He died in July and was taken for burial in Arklow on the Irish Lights’ vessel. He had personally set every stone on the Lighthouse. http://www.mizenhead.net/fastnet-rock.html

steamengine

These sectional elevations or cut-away views show the interior layout of possibly the four most famous lighthouses around these islands, including the Fastnet. The dovetailing feature of the granite blocks on the Fastnet can be seen along with the almost solid base. Stories abound about the Fastnet ranging from how it shakes a bit when hit by large waves during storms and how rogue waves have managed to reach the top of the tower, reputedly smashing the lantern window at one stage.

premierlass

Hook Head lighthouse is the oldest in Europe at about 800 years. William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, who established the port of New Ross, built the lighthouse to protect sea traffic to Waterford harbour from the treacherous seas off Hook Point and so enable trade.

As a navigation aid, he had a 30m high circular tower constructed at the tip of the peninsula to act as a landmark by day and a fire-tower at night. Marshal granted the monks from the nearby monastery of Rinn Dubhán an annual allowance to act as custodians of the light, a task which they had performed for several centuries. The monks lived in the tower which served as a monastery as well as a lighthouse. Traces of their chapel which projected to the east of the building still survive. Marshal’s idea for a light-tower may have been inspired by Mediterranean examples, such as the lighthouse of Pharos in Alexandria, which he may have seen when he was on crusade to the Holy Land. The design of the tower was based on was based on the cylindrical castles which were popular in France where Marshal spent many years.

http://www.hookheritage.ie/who_built_the_tower_of_hook.html

Corsendonk

The Irish inventor and engineer Alexander Mitchell influenced the development of lighthouses were the subsoil could not support the structure of heavier lighthouses.


http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/Surveys/Buildings/BuildingoftheMonth/Archive/Name,763,en.html

The man behind the design of this curious structure, Alexander Mitchell (1780-1868), was quite extraordinary. Born in Dublin, his family moved to Belfast while he was still a child and he was educated at the Belfast Academy, where he showed great mathematical aptitude. His eyesight failed throughout his teenage years, and he was blind by the age of twenty-three. Amazingly his blindness did not prevent him from becoming a pioneering self-taught engineer.

A paper he wrote for the Belfast Literary Society in 1856 provides insight into his inquiring mind. As a child, ‘the bellows, though my first love, did not possess my undivided affection, for I flirted occasionally with a pair of scissors, a corkscrew and many other mechanical contrivances.’ As a school boy, ‘I gave my mind with ardour to arithmetic, Euclid, and all the mathematics that I thought applicable to my favourite study of mechanics.’ Putting theory into practice, ‘My first grand work was a clock, the wheels of wood, toothed with wire bent into the form of staples.’ And later ‘I succeeded in making a sail that enabled a boat to sail in the teeth of the wind – this by means of a spiral in the air and another in the water. I next tried this in the earth, and this is the origin of the screw mooring and the screw pile, with which my name has become so associated that Admiral Francis Beaufort has fixed on me the sobriquet of “the apostle of screw piles.”’

Mitchell patented the ‘Mitchell Screw-pile and Mooring’ in 1833, a cast-iron support system which allowed for construction in deep water on mud and sand banks. Apparently inspired by the domestic corkscrew, its helical screw flange could be used for difficult shifting foundations on a broad range of structures, and its potential was realized in a broad range of projects, including lighthouses in Britain and Ireland as well as more than 150 lighthouses in the North America, piers such as Courtown in County Wexford and the massive example at Madras, bridges and viaducts on the Baroda and Bombay railway, and also for the telegraph network in India. Mitchell went on to apply the same technology to propellers, and patented the screw propeller in 1854

Lighthouses using this innovative system were built under Mitchell’s supervision at Maplin Sands in the Thames estuary in 1838, Wyre in Lancashire in 1840, Belfast Lough in 1848, Spitbank in 1853 and Dundalk in 1855. The foundations for the first lighthouse, Maplin Sands, were sunk in the incredibly short period of nine days. Before Mitchell’s wonderful invention, floating lights had been used where traditional lighthouse construction was not possible. Floating lights were not ideal, as the movement of the light ship caused great variance in the light’s location during storms, and floating lights could break from their mooring, causing havoc for mariners.

Incredibly, accounts survive of Mitchell personally overseeing construction, taking trips out to his lighthouses in small boats, even on rough seas and on occasion falling overboard, going up and down ladders, crawling along planks and examining the wood, iron and rivets. At times he rallied the workers’ spirits, leading them in sea shanties. Through touch he checked the quality of the iron work, sometimes noting flaws which had escaped the workers’ and foreman’s eye. One worker is recorded as exclaiming ‘Our master may say what he pleases, but I’ll never believe that he can’t see as well as thee or I.’ Mitchell was made an associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1837, and was elected a member in 1848, at which time he received the Telford silver medal for the invention of the screw pile. He was awarded the Napoleon Medal from the Paris Exhibition in 1855.

jonniebgood1

On the news yesterday was Loop house lighthouse. It has been opened as a tourist attraction until the end of august I think.

Tuesday July 19 2011

Loop Head Lighthouse has been described as a solitary sentinel overlooking a vast coastline at one of the most scenic locations in Ireland.

Yesterday, the 19th Century building opened its doors to the public for the first time.

Located at the tip of the Loop Head Peninsula, which is the furthest point west on the Clare coastline, the 341-year-old building is hosting a trial visitor scheme until the end of August.

Ger Dollard, director of services of Clare County Council said the opening of the lighthouse to members of the public will help to further strengthen the tourism sector in the area

Adult admission is €3 and children under 12 can go for free. The lighthouse opens from 10am to 4pm daily. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ray-of-light-for-tourism-in-the-west-2824731.html

Brendan Garvey, who was the last lightkeeper at the facility – which became fully automated in 1991 – welcomed the opening of the lighthouse as a tourist attraction. The Carrigaholt man said: “I lived there with my wife, Kitty, in the 1960s. We had two children while I was stationed there and it was a great place for a young family. It is a beautiful part of the world.”

Ger Dollard of Clare County Council said the opening was a first step in realising the tremendous tourism potential of the west Clare peninsula.

The lighthouse was first established in 1670 and is open on a trial basis for July and August. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0719/1224300947994.html

Tabnabs

Did somebody mention Loop?

http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/marine/tourists-flock-to-see-the-light-in-west-clare/28684.html

getzls

Judgement Day wrote: »

Should we also have a debate about the naming of the Irish Sea? Why does ever thread have to be dragged down to this sort of crap? Are you interested in lighthouses? If so, why not say something about them?

Think Antrims wee bit off on that map lol, used to go to Blackhead when i was young with mate and sleep in cave below lighthouse. We just watched the beam from lighthouse going over the sea. great.

steddyeddy

Tabnabs wrote: »

Have a read all about our own Lighthouse Service

http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/history.aspx

My grandad was a lighthouse keeper in a lighthouse nicknamed the "lady luck" lighthouse has anyone any ideas what the offical name might be? Maybe the nickname is out of use. He also served on the kish lighthouse for many years. Tough job especially in the days before helicopters were in use to supply food. He used to make his own bread, catch and store his own fish in salt

Balmed Out

You can also stay in the Galley heads lighthouse too. Well the lighthouse keepers house next to it anyhow with the Irish land mark trust. Stunning area too.

The light shines inland too with the local story being that an Ottoman Sultan was staing in nearby Castlefreke castle and wanted to see the light from it, when he left the locals liked it shining inland so it stayed that way.

Batsy

Judgement Day wrote: »

I like lighthouses and have always wanted to stay in one, although I'm not sure whether something as remote as Fastnet (below) would be my first choice. Remember the trapped in the lighthouse scenes from "The Day of the Triffids"....:eek:

Princess Anne, the Princess Royal (who is the Queen's only daughter and tenth in line to the Throne), is a bin fan of lighthouses.

She is a big "pharologist" and is the patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB).

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man and the Princess Royal has made it her ambition to visit all of Scotland's 209 lighthouses.

The Princess has been interested in lighthouses since she was a child. In 1956, when she was only 5, Princess Anne accompanied her mother, the Queen, on a visit to Tiumpan Head in Lewis - although it was her big brother, Charles, who got to blow the foghorn.

Secret obsession that makes Princess Anne a champion pharologist


Lucy Bannerman
From The Times
July 14, 2008

Collecting coins was said to be the “hobby of kings”, while the weakness of Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria’s second son, for stamps turned a long line of royals on to philately.

Now it seems that the anorak gene flows as dominantly as ever through British blue blood, thanks to the Princess Royal’s own unusual hobby: lighthouse-bagging.

In the same way that some walkers set out to climb every one of Scotland’s 284 Munros (mountains each with a height of 3,000ft or more), the Princess has made it a personal mission to visit each of the 209 lighthouses that illuminate the Scottish Coast.

Last week she ticked more off her list, with a private visit to the Inner Hebrides. Taking pride in her role as patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) she visited Pladda, off the Isle of Arran (latitude 55? 25.5’N; longitude 05? 07.3’W; three flashing lights every 30 seconds). The nearby Holy Island inner and outer lights (latitude 55? 31” 4’, longitude -5? 3” 37’, two white flashes every 20 seconds) were also scored off. She is expected to return again next week to “bag” another couple off the Isle of Skye. One on her list is Rubh Reidh Lighthouse, Melvaig at Gairloch.

Until capturing the Princess Royal’s attention, pharology - for that is what her hobby is called - had featured rarely in the passions of princesses, but when it comes to bagging scores, few amateur pharologists can compete with her. The Princess is now thought to have passed the critical halfway point, having logged about 80 through her work with the board. She has visited another 20 during private yachting excursions with her husband Vice-Admiral Tim Laurence. The couple keep a yacht at Ardfern on Loch Craignish in Argyll and Bute.

Roger Lockwood, chief executive of the NLB, said that the Princess’s visit had been a private one. “She visited three lighthouses and is now a long way along the way of seeing them all,” he said. “She must have visited over 80 with us and takes her role as patron very seriously.

“It is not just about ticking off another light on the list – she also likes to see the places and conditions in which the technicians have to work.

“The Princess has done all the major lights now and it will not be easy to do them all because there are many that are scattered all over the place.

But it will be a remarkable feat if the Princess ticks them all off. Other than some of our technicians I doubt if anybody else has been to all of them.”

Her only challengers, he said, would be the engineers who have spent years working across Scotland’s 10,000km of coastline and 790 islands.

The Princess has been interested in lighthouses since she was a child. In 1956, when she was only 5, Princess Anne accompanied the Queen on a visit to Tiumpan Head in Lewis - although it was her big brother, Charles, who got to blow the foghorn. In 1998 she was present for the final shift of Scotland’s last manned lighthouse in Fair Isle. A guide at the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, told The Times that the Princess Royal was included in the visitor book.

She was not alone in her quest to bag all 209. “We see a lot of these anoraks, sorry, pharologists, who show a lot of interest in the lights. They are a far more sensible lot than the twitchers and the trainspotters,” he said. “Generally, the more remote the lighthouses are, the happier they are to have visited them. Some have great difficulty visiting these far-flung corners of the Hebrides, and Orkney and Shetland. That adds to the appeal.”

To the lighthouse

- Pharology is derived from the Pharos lights of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World

- Legend has it that the light from Pharos could burn enemy ships before they reached shore

- It was designed by the Greek architect Sostratus in about 270BC

- The Tower of Hercules, a 2nd-century Roman lighthouse near La Coruña in Spain, is modelled on the Alexandrian Pharos

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4327445.ece

pedroeibar1

who the fug wrote: »

Building lighthouses is how William Martin Murphy family made their money, they were equivalent to the Lighthouse Stephenson’s in the South West.

That is incorrect. Denis William Murphy was a middling sized Bantry builder and got the job to build a house on Kenmare Bay for Lord Dunraven. He died just after he started and Dunraven agreed to let his son William Martin Murphy (WMM) take over. WMM was only 19 and had just left Belvedere. Work went well as did another job funded by Dunraven. The subsequent patronage and support of Dunraven led Murphy back to Dublin, where in 1870 aged 25 he became involved in the development of tramways, later expanding into railways there and overseas. He masterminded the merger and acquisition of smaller railway companies and in 1903 Murphy became a director of the Great Southern and Western Railway, and on and on................ he was self-made.


The lighthouse body for the British Isles including the Irish Sea is now a single entity since the Good Friday Agreement. (Merger of Trinity House and CIL). Sailors of all hues don't give a rats on the name of the Isles, they are just happy to see a bright lighthouse where they expect it to be
P.