Start Point Lighthouse

STOKENHAM SX83NW Start Point Lighthouse 10/173 26.1.67 GV II

Lighthouse 1836 by James Walker engineer, with minor alterations of 1871. Tarred and white-painted granite ashlar with cast-iron lantern roofed in copper. Tall circular tower of about 28 metres high with moulded plinth and pedestal stage and 2 diminishing stages above that, the top stage with a corbelled embattled parapet and a cast-iron lattice lantern with a copper canopy surrounded by weatervane. Rectangular and small round-headed window openings with plain raised architraves and blind panel on west side under the parapet. On the north and south sides there are 2 entrance porches, that on the south side blocked an with a 4-centred arch hoodmould; the doorway to the north porch has a Tudor arch and botn have raised parapets with Trinity House arms. Interior: There is a cantilevered granite staircase around the inside well of the tower with an iron balustrade with a cast-iron newel. The lighthouse originally had the keepers' living accommodation on the ground and first floor but the floor was taken out in 1871 when new keepers' houses were built nearby. The lens is developed from the dioptic system designed by Alan Stevenson, the first of this kind to be used by Trinity House. The light was powered by oil until 1959 when it was electrified. Originally the fog-sounder was a bell mounted outside, but this was soon replaced, in about 1851, because the new steam ships could not hear the bell. Source: Trinity House. Douglas B. Hague and Rosemary Christie, "Lighthouses".

Listing NGR: SX8294237116