Bull Point Lighthouse

The original lighthouse was constructed in 1879 after a group of local "clergy, ship-owners, merchants and landowners" appealed to Trinity House for one.{{cite web |title=A harder walk over coastal heathlands via Damage Barton and Bull Point Lighthouse |url=http://www.leebay.co.uk/no5_clifftop,gorse_and_heather.htm |publisher=Lee Bay North Devon |access-date=31 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205161438/http://www.leebay.co.uk/no5_clifftop,gorse_and_heather.htm |archive-date=5 December 2008 |url-status=dead }} It was built on Bull Point, though the Maritime Corporations of the Bristol Channel seaboard had lobbied strongly for it to be placed offshore on the Morte Stone (a local hazard to shipping).

Bull Point Lighthouse was a two-storey round tower, {{convert|30|ft|abbr=on}} high and {{convert|13|ft|abbr=on}} wide, built of local stone and Blue Lias lime, and faced with Portland cement;{{cite journal |title=Lighthouse Building |journal=The Builder |date=1 June 1878 |volume=36 |page=571}} it was topped by a large cylindrical lantern to give a total height of {{convert|55|ft}}. Inside, the light-source (a Douglass six-wick oil-powered lamp) was set within a revolving first-order optic, manufactured (along with the lantern) by Chance Brothers of Smethwick. The optic, consisting of three asymmetric lens panels backed by a dioptric mirror,{{cite book |last1=Ashpitel |first1=F. W. |title=Report on Light-house Construction and Illumination |date=1895 |publisher=Government Press |location=Madras |page=87}} was an early example of the application of group-flashing lens technology (introduced by Dr John Hopkinson of Chance Brothers in 1874).{{cite journal |last1=Littell |first1=Eliakim |last2=Littell |first2=Robert S. |title=Lighthouse Work in the United Kingdom |journal=The Living Age |date=1887 |volume=174 |page=246}} Rotated by a weight-driven clockwork, it displayed three white flashes every half minute at an elevation of {{convert|154|ft|abbr=on}} above mean high water springs.{{cite book |last1=Tugwell |first1=George |title=The North Devon Hand book |date=1877 |publisher=Twiss & Son |location=Ilfracombe |page=54 |edition=4th}} A fixed red sector light was also displayed, from a window in the tower, to mark the Morte Stone; this used light diverted by lenses from the landward side of the main light source.{{cite web |title=Bull Point Lighthouse |url=https://woolacombemortehoevoice.co.uk/2016/05/05/bull-point-lighthouse/ |website=Woolacombe & Mortehoe Voice |access-date=25 February 2019 |archive-date=25 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225223845/https://woolacombemortehoevoice.co.uk/2016/05/05/bull-point-lighthouse/ |url-status=dead }}

A fog siren was also provided,{{cite journal |title=Fog Signals |journal=Parliamentary Papers, Volume LXIV |date=1 August 1879 |volume=23 |issue=337 |pages=2–4}} powered by two 12 h.p. caloric engines (provided by Brown & co. of New York); it gave three blasts every two minutes.{{cite book |last1=Bedford |first1=E. J. |title=Sailing Directions for the Bristol Channel |date=1879 |publisher=Admiralty, Hydrographic Office |location=London |pages=34–35 |url=https://archive.org/details/sailingdirectio00bedfgoog/page/n48/mode/2up/ |access-date=12 February 2020}} The fog signal equipment was housed in a separate engine room, built (together with a coke store and a small workshop) on the seaward side of the tower; it sounded through a single vertical horn, which was designed to rotate so that it could be angled to face into the wind when in use. On the landward side of the tower, a set of dwellings were constructed 'for two married keepers and one married assistant'. The dwellings, tower and engine room were linked by passageways; they were set, along with gardens and outbuildings, in a 12,000 sq ft compound.

In 1919 a new twin-siren fog signal was installed, sounded through a pair of 'Rayleigh trumpets',[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/lighthouse-fog-horn-bull-point-nr-244952499 photo] together with a new set of 24 h.p. Hornsby oil engines in the engine room providing compressed air.

The light was electrified in 1960{{cite web |title=Bull Point Lighthouse |url=https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/bull-point-lighthouse |website=Trinity House |access-date=25 February 2019}} when the lighthouse was connected to mains electricity. At the same time a new motor-driven optic was installed, providing an 800,000 candlepower light visible at a distance of {{convert|18|nmi}}, and a new twin-diaphone fog signal was installed, the Rayleigh trumpets being replaced by a set of rectangular exponential horns. Compressed air was provided by a pair of Reavell compressor sets (one diesel, the other electric) supplied by Petters Ltd (who also provided a standby generator in case the mains supply failed).{{cite journal |title=Diesel Power for Bull Point Lighthouse |journal=Diesel Engineering |date=1961 |volume=56 |page=81}}

File:Lighthouse at Bull Point - geograph.org.uk - 2382999.jpg

In September 1972 the headland on which the lighthouse stood subsided making the structure dangerous.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/quentinsf/8624413302 photo] Trinity House used an old light tower from nearby Braunton Sands for two years whilst a new structure was rebuilt further inland. This was completed in 1974 at a cost of £71,000 and is currently in use. It was designed by an in-house team led by Ian Clingan, and built by T. R. Yeo & Sons (a local firm of contractors).{{cite journal |title=On the water front |journal=Surveyor: Public Authority Technology |date=5 September 1975 |volume=CXLVI |issue=4343 |page=44}} Much equipment was reused from the old lighthouse, including the 1960 optic and diaphone fog signal. The new lighthouse stood 11 metres tall, had a light intensity of 800,000 candelas and could be seen for {{convert|24|nmi|km|abbr=on}}.{{cite web |title=Bull Point Lighthouse |url=http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/bull_point.html |publisher=Trinity House |access-date=31 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121229142439/http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses/lighthouse_list/index.html |archive-date=29 December 2012 |url-status=dead }} The sector light was also retained, shone from a window at the base of the tower.{{cite web |title=World Wide Lighthouses |url=http://www.worldwidelighthouses.com/Lighthouses/English-Lighthouses/Trinity-House-Owned/Bull-Point |website=Bull Point Lighthouse |access-date=25 February 2019}}

The new Bull Point Lighthouse was opened by Captain David Tibbitts (deputy master of Trinity House) on 25 July 1975. It was classed as a 'husband and wife' station: the light and foghorn were fully automatic from the start, but maintained by a resident keeper and his wife.{{cite book |last1=Grimson |first1=John |title=The Channel Coasts of England |date=1978 |publisher=Robert Hale |location=London |page=198}} The old lighthouse and engine room were demolished, but the adjacent keepers' cottages were retained and used by Trinity House as holiday accommodation for its staff.

The triple F-type diaphone foghorn was switched off in 1988, but inside the redundant equipment remains intact.{{cite book |last1=Renton |first1=Alan |title=Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals |date=2001 |publisher=Whittles |location=Caithness, Scotland}} The lighthouse was automated and no longer staffed in 1995. The range of the light was reduced in 2025 to {{convert|18|nmi}}.{{cite web |title=32/2024 Bull Point Lighthouse (Trinity House Notice to Mariners, 19/12/2024) |url=https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/notice-to-mariners/32/2024-bull-point-lighthouse |website=Trinity House |access-date=5 April 2025}}

The site can be reached by an adjacent public footpath, although the lighthouse compound itself is private property and not accessible to visitors. The old lighthouse keepers' cottages are now being let out to tourists as self-catering holiday establishments.

File:Bull Point lighthouse, North Devon, May 2014.JPG|Bull Point Lighthouse (with engine room attached and the new keeper's cottage in the foreground).

File:Bull Point lighthouse and cottages.jpg|The lighthouse compound viewed from the sea.

File:North Devon , Bull Point Lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 3638499.jpg|Close-up, showing the lantern and lens (centre) and emergency battery light mounted on the gallery (left).

File:Morthoe to Lee Bay Lighthouse - panoramio.jpg|View of the lighthouse from Morte Point

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Category:Lighthouses completed in 1879

Category:Lighthouses in Devon

Category:Bristol Channel