Portland Bill Light House- Dorset - Coastal Lighthouses on Waymarking.com

This is a Famous Light run by the Trinity House,
Information from the Trinity House web site

Erected in 1906, Portland Bill Lighthouse with 153 steps to the top makes a challenging guided tour but the spectacular view of the Portland coastline makes it worth the climb. The current lighthouse replaced two previous lighthouses, one of which today provides accommodation as a Bird Observatory.


Portland Bill and Chesil Beach are the graveyards of many vessels that failed to reach Weymouth or Portland Roads. The Portland Race is caused by the meeting of the tides between the Bill and the Shambles sandbank about 3 miles SE. Strong currents break the sea so fiercely that from the shore a continuous disturbance can be seen. Portland Bill Lighthouse guides vessels heading for Portland and Weymouth through these hazardous waters as well as acting as a waymark for ships navigating the English Channel. The Shambles sandbank is marked by a red sector light.

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As early as 1669 Sir John Clayton was granted a patent to erect a lighthouse, but his scheme fell through and it was not until early in the eighteenth century that Captain William Holman, supported by the shipowners and Corporation of Weymouth, put a petition to Trinity House for the building of a lighthouse at Portland Bill. Trinity House opposed it suggesting that lights at this point were needless and shipowners could not bear the burden of their upkeep. The people of Weymouth continued their petition and on 26th May, 1716 Trinity House obtained a patent from George I. They in turn issued a lease for 61 years to a private consortium who built two lighthouses with enclosed lanterns and coal fires. The lights were badly kept, sometimes not lit at all, and in 1752 an inspection was made by two members of the Board of Trinity House who approached by sea to find "it was nigh two hours after sunset before any light appeared in either of the lighthouses". With the termination of the lease the lights reverted to Trinity House. In 1789 William Johns, a builder of Weymouth under contract to Trinity House, took down one of the towers and erected a new one at a cost of £2,000. It was sited so that it served as a mark by day or night to direct ships moving up and down Channel or into Portland Roads clear of the Race and Shambles. Over the doorway on a marble tablet was the following inscription:-


Anno 1789.
In August 1788 Argand lamps were installed, Portland being the first lighthouse in England to be fitted with them. In the upper or old house there were two rows, seven in each row, lighted with oil and furnished with highly-polished reflectors. Low light tests were made by Thomas Rogers with his new lens light, and six Argand lamps were installed, their lights increased by lenses.

In 1798, when Napoleon threatened invasion, two 18lb cannons were installed at the lighthouse.

A 7 metre tall white stone obelisk was built in 1844 at the Southern tip of Portland Bill as a warning of a low shelf of rock extending 30 metres South into the sea, which still stands near the current lighthouse.

New high and low lighthouses were built in 1869, but early this century Trinity House announced its intention of replacing them with a single tower - the present lighthouse. The old towers can still be seen from the outside - the low light, which is now a bird observatory and field centre, has retained its original appearance but the high light lantern has been removed.

The present optic at Portland Bill is very unusual as due to the arrangement of the panels the character gradually changes from one flash to four flashes between the bearings 221°and 224° and from four flashes to one flash between bearings 117° and 141°.

Portland Bill Lighthouse was demanned on 18th March 1996 when monitoring and control of the station was transferred to the Trinity House Operations Control Centre at Harwich.


Specifications
Established 1716
Height Of Tower 41 Metres
Height Of Light Above Mean High Water 43 Metres
Automated 1996
Lamp 1 Kw Mbi
Optic 4 Panel 1St Order Catadioptric Fixed Lens
Character White Group Flashing 4 Times Every 20 Seconds
Intensity 635,000 Candela
Range Of Light 25 nautical miles
Fog Signal Character 3.5 Second Blast Every 30 Seconds

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