Needles Lighthouse

Needles Lighthouse
Aerial view of Needles Lighthouse
Isle of Wight
Location Alum Bay
Isle of Wight
England
Coordinates 50°39′44.2″N 1°35′30.5″W / 50.662278°N 1.591806°W / 50.662278; -1.591806Coordinates: 50°39′44.2″N 1°35′30.5″W / 50.662278°N 1.591806°W / 50.662278; -1.591806
Year first constructed 1786 (first)
Year first lit 1859 (current)
Automated 1994
Construction granite tower
Tower shape cylindrical tower with lantern and helipad above lantern
Markings / pattern tower with red and white bands
Height 31 m (102 ft)
Focal height 24 m (79 ft)
Current lens 2nd order 700mm fixed lens
Intensity white: 12,300 candela
red (intensified): 3,950 candela
red: 1,800 candela
green 2,860 candela
Range white and red (intensified): 17 nmi (31 km; 20 mi)
red and green: 14 nmi (26 km; 16 mi)
Characteristic Oc (2) WRG 20s.
Fog signal two blasts every 30s.
Admiralty number A0528
NGA number 0584
ARLHS number ENG 083
Managing agent

Trinity House[1]

[2]
Heritage Grade II listed building Edit this on Wikidata

The Needles Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse on the outermost of the chalk rocks at The Needles on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, near sea level. Designed by James Walker, for Trinity House at a cost of £20,000. It was completed in 1859 from granite blocks, and stands 33.25 metres (109.1 ft) high and is a circular tower with straight sides.

It replaced an earlier light tower on top of a cliff overhanging Scratchell's Bay, which was first lit on 29 September 1786. Its height of 144m above sea level meant it was often obscured by fog and sea mists.[3]

In 1987 a helipad was added to the top of the lighthouse, and it became fully automated when the last keepers left on 8 December 1994.[3] One of the last three remaining manned rock lighthouses in England and Wales, before automation it was staffed by a three-man crew operating a 24-hour watch, serving one month on / one month off, living in rudimentary conditions in three levels below the light.[4]

Due to the condition of the chalk strata on which the lighthouse was built, in April 2010 a £500,000 underpinning project was announced, designed to stop the lighthouse falling into the sea.[5] Over a 12-week period from early June, civil marine contractors Nuttall John Martin excavated a trench around the base of the lighthouse, to install a ring of stabilising posts, reinforced with concrete.[6]

See also


References

  1. ↑ The Needles The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 3 May 2016
  2. ↑ Needles Lighthouse Trinity House. Retrieved 3 May 2016
  3. 1 2 "Needles Lighthouse". Trinity House. n.d. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  4. ↑ Nowicka, Helen (15 August 1993). "Last one out, leave the light on: The Needles lighthouse is to lose its keepers as manning is phased out around Britain". London: The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  5. ↑ "Rescue to save Needles lighthouse landmark". The Mirror. 30 April 2010. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  6. ↑ "Work to start on crumbling lighthouse". Isle of Wight County Press. 28 April 2010. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 May 2010.



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