page_title: Trevose Head Lighthouse
section_title: Later developments
hierarchical_section_title: Trevose Head Lighthouse / History / Later developments
caption_attribution_description: Trevose lighthouse on the North Coast of Cornwall.
context_page_description: Trevose Head Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Trevose Head on the north Cornish coast at grid reference SW850766 lying to the WSW of Padstow and was sited here as there was previously no light from Land's End to Lundy and it would be visible from Cape Cornwall to Hartland Point.
  The tower is 27 metres tall, and has a range of 20 nautical miles, but, on a clear night, you can just spot the light from Pendeen Lighthouse, over 35 miles away.
context_section_description: In 1882, under Engineer-in-Chief James Douglass, the 'high' light was changed to an occulting light, now with a six-wick lamp, and the 'low' light was put out of use. Under the new arrangement the high light was eclipsed (for three seconds) three times in quick succession every minute. 
  From 1911 a series of further improvements were made. First, the keepers' dwellings were upgraded. Then, in 1912 the light was again updated and the current rotating optic (weighing 3.6 tons) was installed. 
  At the same time work began on installing a fog signal: a 5-inch siren attached to a 36-foot-long acoustic horn, which came into service in 1913; it was nicknamed 'Lord Rayleigh's trumpet' after its designer, the eminent physicist and acoustician. The trumpet and siren were built on to the roof of a new engine house, containing a pair of Hornsby oil engines, the air compressor, reservoirs and other equipment.
  In 1920 a paraffin vapour burner replaced the oil lamp; it was given a red filter to produce one red flash every 5 seconds.
  The fog signal equipment all remained in service until 1963, when the trumpet and siren were replaced by a set of eight 'supertyfon' air horns mounted in a metal turret on top of the engine house. New diesel engines and Reavell compressors were provided. The light was electrified in 1974.
  In 1995 the lighthouse was automated and became unmanned. The red colour was removed from the light at this time and the rotation speed of the optic was slowed. By this stage the engine house was suffering cracking due to erosion; with automation a new fog signal was installed (a stack of electric emitters placed at the foot of the lighthouse) whereupon the old engine house was demolished.
  The fog signal was decommissioned in 2012. The former keepers' cottages (arranged in two semi-detached pairs) are nowadays available to rent as holiday accommodation.
caption: Former keepers' cottages alongside the lighthouse.
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