Blackhead Lighthouse, McCrea's Brae, Whitehead, Co Antrim, BT38 9NZ

Blackhead Lighthouse Complex, McCrea's Brae, Whitehead, Co. Antrim

This is a description of the complete lighthouse complex at Blackhead, a rocky promontory overlooking the Irish Sea just north of Whitehead. The complex was built between 1899 and 1902 by the Commissioners of Irish Lights under the direction of their Chief Engineer, William Douglass — also known as the designer of the Fastnet Lighthouse — and the construction contract was awarded to William Campbell & Sons in July 1899. The complex opened on 1 April 1902 and comprises the lighthouse itself, a fog signal station, two munitions stores, entrance gates and gate pillars, a boundary wall, and lighthouse keepers' houses. The lighthouse keepers' houses and the superintendent's house are recorded separately. The complex was built to aid shipping in and out of Belfast Lough, complementing the lighthouse at Mew Island on the Copeland Islands, which the Commissioners had opened in 1884.

LIGHTHOUSE

The lighthouse dates from 1901 and is a partly detached three-stage structure consisting of a two-stage masonry tower with a metal lantern room on top. The tower is of slightly tapered octagonal cross-section, 16 metres high, and stands 45 metres above mean high water spring, giving a light range of 27 nautical miles. Its walls are painted and rendered, probably over stone.

The only entrance to the tower is via an internal passage from external ground level. Stage 1 forms a semi-basement and has a single window opening on its east face, with a chamfered segmental head, stepped jambs, and a shouldered cill, all of finely dressed granite. The original window frame has been removed to accommodate ventilator ducts from internal machinery. Stage 2, at the top of the masonry section, has identically detailed window openings on the north, east, and south faces, each fitted with a one-over-two-paned top-opening casement whose upper pane is sloped outwards.

Above the masonry is Stage 3, the lantern: a 16-sided (hexadecagon) cast-iron structure with a shallow canted metal roof surmounted by a finialed ventilator. This ventilator was originally designed to remove smoke and heat from the oil lamps used before electrification in 1965. A small external access ladder runs vertically up the external face of the lantern on its south-west side. The lantern's lower section comprises fluted metal panels. Its middle and upper sections comprise lattice-glazed panels — the diagonal astragals only partially obstruct the light beam, whereas vertical astragals would block it, if only for a split second. The window panels on the five landward faces of the lantern are painted over to block the light beam on that side (white on the outside, black on the inside).

An external gallery runs around the lantern and is used for cleaning the outsides of the lantern's windows. It is accessed through a small cast-iron door at the base of the lantern and is formed from dressed granite slabs supported on moulded granite brackets, three per face. A four-bar metal handrail runs around the gallery, to which two aerials and a flagpole have been affixed. Each of the railing's cast-iron corner posts is topped with a mushroom-shaped finial.

The lighthouse is connected to the lighthouse keepers' houses by a single-storey passage accessed from their basement. This connecting passage has a flat roof with a three-bar metal handrail along each side. Its walls are detailed to match the lighthouse and have square-headed openings: tongue-and-groove doors on the north elevation and two-over-two sash windows on both north and south elevations. Modern galvanised steel security grilles have been fitted to all external openings along both sides of the passage.

The vertical spatial arrangement inside the lighthouse is typical of lighthouses generally, with a plant room at the bottom, a watch room in the middle, and the lantern at the top, all linked by a spiral staircase. Although the equipment inside has been modernised, the original floors, stairs, banisters, and doors all remain intact.

A short distance to the south-west of the lighthouse is a well, the head of which is capped with concrete.

Historically, the light was first generated by a six-wick oil lamp and was first exhibited on 1 April 1902. The tower was originally painted red, but its colour was changed to the present white in 1929. In September 1965, the lighthouse was converted from oil to electric, the intensity of the light was increased, and its character was changed to the present-day 0.15-second flash every three seconds. Since 1 August 1975 the lighthouse has been automated.

GATES AND GATE PILLARS

The entrance gates and boundary wall date from 1902 and delineate the perimeter of the lighthouse complex. The entrance gates are at the south-west corner of the site, at the end of the single-track McCrea's Brae. They comprise a vehicular gate and a narrower pedestrian gate, both of wrought iron. The vehicular gate has six horizontal bars and a scrolled bar at the top on either side of a central ornate finial, with the horizontal members braced by two sets of diagonal bars. The pedestrian gate is of similar construction but smaller. Both gates share a common cast-iron latch post of square cross-section surmounted by a boss finial. Each gate is hung from a square post built of rock-faced basalt blocks laid to courses, with stepped brick quoins and an oversailing pyramidal concrete cap.

On the seaward side, a metal stile gives access to a public footpath that leads around and through the complex to the bottom of the cliff and onward to Whitehead.

A stone boundary wall delineates the southern and eastern boundary of the site. It is of random rubble basalt brought to courses. It runs just in from the cliff edge, from the entrance gates to the point where the footpath descends steeply to the sea, and also demarcates the public footpath where it passes between the lighthouse and the fog signal station. From the north end of the wall, a barbed wire fence runs westwards up the slope and southwards along the steep scarp back to the entrance gates. This fence is evidently modern; the form and extent of the original fence is now uncertain.

FOG SIGNAL STATION

The fog signal station is a detached single-bay, single-storey building of 1902 at the edge of a cliff at the east end of the Blackhead Lighthouse complex. The building is accessed by a flight of concrete steps that runs from the lighthouse and passes underneath the public footpath leading to the sea. This access path is carried beneath the footpath through a segmental arch, faced on both sides by walls of random rubble brought to courses.

The building has a flat concrete roof that slopes slightly to the east, draining to a plastic gutter and steel downpipe. The walls, probably of concrete, are cement rendered. There is a tongue-and-groove timber door on the west elevation at the end of the access passage. Each of the other elevations has a square-headed window with a shouldered granite cill; all windows are now covered with sheets of galvanised metal. A radar mast is affixed to the south-east corner of the building.

The fog signal station was an integral part of the original complex, coming into use when dense fog made the lighthouse optic ineffective. It opened on 1 April 1902. During 1918 the fog signal character was altered to one explosion every two minutes, but from January 1919 it reverted to its previous character of one explosion every five minutes. From September 1965, the explosive fog signal was accompanied by a flash of light when operating at night. The signal was discontinued in February 1972. Approximately five years before the date of the listing record, the building was leased to the Belfast Harbour Commissioners for use as a radar station to monitor shipping in Belfast Lough.

MUNITIONS STORE 1

This is a detached single-bay, single-storey former munitions store of 1902, situated on the left-hand side of the driveway to the lighthouse. The building is of mass concrete throughout, cast in situ, with a slightly sloping flat roof and cement-rendered walls. Apart from ventilators, the only opening is a tongue-and-groove door on the south elevation. The utilitarian external appearance belies its unusual internal construction.

The store was used to hold a ready supply of Tonite brought from the nearby Munitions Store 2. It ceased to be used as an explosives store when the fog signal station was discontinued in 1972.

MUNITIONS STORE 2

This is a detached two-bay, single-storey former munitions store of 1902 overlooking the lighthouse complex. Granite steps and a concrete footpath lead up to it from the driveway. The store has a swept curved mass concrete roof with projecting eaves and verges, and a small metal lightning conductor at the apex of the east gable. The walls are cement rendered, probably over mass concrete.

The east gable has a tongue-and-groove door at the left and a three-over-three sash timber window at the right, with vertical metal security bars. The window has a shouldered dressed granite cill. There is also a small ventilator in the apex of this gable. All other elevations are devoid of openings. The unusual function of the building as an explosives store is reflected in its structural form and internal layout.

The store was used to hold Tonite, an electrically detonated explosive made from barium nitrate and guncotton, which was used at times of heavy fog when the lighthouse optic was ineffective. It ceased to be used as an explosives store when the fog signal station was discontinued in 1972.