Whitby Lighthouse

File:Whitby Light House - geograph.org.uk - 7261051.jpg

The lighthouse, a white octagonal brick tower, was designed by James Walker{{cite web | title = Lighthouse management | year = 1861 | pages = 68 | url = https://archive.org/stream/lighthousemanage02blak#page/68/mode/1up }} of civil engineers Messrs. Walker, Burgess & Cooper.{{cite news | newspaper = The Whitby Gazette | title = The New Lighthouses | date = 22 May 1858 | pages = 4 }} Foundations were laid on 12 April 1857 with construction carried out by local builder William Falkingbridge of Well Close Square, Whitby. Supervising the construction Henry Norris of James Walker's firm was engaged as Superintendent of the Works on behalf of Trinity House. The light, a 1st Order assembly manufactured by Chance Brothers of Smethwick, was first lit on 1 October 1858 with costs of construction having run to about £8,000.

Originally, it was one of a pair of towers aligned north-south and known as the twin lights of Whitby South (the present lighthouse) and Whitby North (since demolished);{{cite web | title = Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 2 | year = 1861 | pages = 67 | url = https://archive.org/stream/lighthousemanage02blak#page/67/mode/1up }} together they were sometimes referred to as the High Whitby lights.{{cite web |title=High Whitby (architect's drawing, 1855) |url=https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/shop/lighthouse-prints/whitby-287 |website=Trinity House |access-date=30 March 2019}} The North Light was of a similar octagonal design to the surviving South Light, but taller at {{convert|20.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} (so that, although the North tower was on lower ground, the two lights were on the same focal plane). Their purpose was to show a fixed pair of lights which, when in transit, lined up with Whitby Rock (an offshore hazard to shipping). Each was equipped with a paraffin lamp and a large (first-order) fixed optic designed by Chance Brothers.{{cite book |last1=Chance |first1=James Frederick |title=The Lighthouse Work of Sir James Chance, Baronet |date=1902 |publisher=Smith, Elder & co. |location=London |page=166 |url=https://uslhs.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/The%20Lighthouse%20Work%20of%20Sir%20James%20T.%20Chance.pdf |access-date=24 February 2019}} A pair of single-storey keepers' cottages was attached to each tower.{{cite book |last1=Elliot |first1=George H. |title=European Light-House Systems |date=1875 |publisher=Lockwood & co. |location=London |pages=118–120 |url=http://access.bl.uk/item/pdf/lsidyv38f8413f |access-date=10 March 2019 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029210746/http://access.bl.uk/item/pdf/lsidyv38f8413f |url-status=dead }}

In 1890, a more efficient lamp (a powerful eight-wick mineral-oil burner){{cite journal |last1=Price Edwards |first1=E. |title=Burning Oils for Lighthouses and Lightships |journal=Journal of the Society of Arts |date=12 February 1892 |volume=XL |issue=2,047 |page=269}} was installed in the South Light, allowing the North Light to be deactivated: an occulting mechanism was also installed, which eclipsed the light once every thirty seconds, and a red sector was added marking Whitby Rock.{{cite web |title=Contemporary illustration |url=https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/shop/lighthouse-prints/whitby-improvement-elevation |website=Trinity House |access-date=30 March 2019}} The North Lighthouse was then demolished (but its lantern and optic both went on to be re-used at a new lighthouse then being built at Withernsea).{{cite book |title=Mercantile Marine Fund: Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Committee of Inquiry appointed by the President of the Board of Trade |date=1896 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |page=281|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/_/mgBQAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PPn281 |access-date=8 April 2025}}

File:Whitby Fog Signal - geograph.org.uk - 671189.jpg

On the site of the demolished North Light, buildings were erected to house new fog signalling apparatus{{cite web |title=A Blast from the Past |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/analysis/a-blast-from-the-past-1-2509932 |website=Yorkshire Post |access-date=27 February 2019 |archive-date=28 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228004449/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/analysis/a-blast-from-the-past-1-2509932 |url-status=dead }} (including a compressed air plant powered by two Hornsby horizontal 25-horsepower oil engines). Following trials of different types of signal (conducted at St. Catherine's Lighthouse in 1901) Trinity House decided to use sirens at Whitby, sounded through a pair of 'Rayleigh trumpets' (named after the scientific adviser at the trials).{{cite book |last1=Renton |first1=Alan |title=Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals |date=2001 |publisher=Whittles |location=Caithness, Scotland}} Over the next decade or more Trinity House went on to install similar equipment in several other lighthouse locations. Whitby Fog Signal (known locally as the 'Hawsker Bull') was operational from 1903 and continued in use until 1987, the equipment having been updated in 1955. The building, which retains the twin roof-mounted 20-ft trumpets, is now a private dwelling, part of which is also used as holiday accommodation.{{cite web | title = Rural Retreats | url = https://www.ruralretreats.co.uk/england/yorkshire-holiday-cottages/galatea_yo029 }}

Whitby High lighthouse was electrified in 1976 (after which the 'Hood' paraffin vapour burner, which had been the active light source up until that point, was donated to the Whitby Museum).[https://www.johnalewis.co.uk/whitby-lighthouse Photo and information.] The light was automated in 1992; the former lighthouse keepers' cottages are now available to hire by holidaymakers.{{cite web | url = http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses/lighthouse_list/whitby.html | title = Whitby Lighthouse | publisher = Trinity House | access-date = 24 August 2012 | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055206/http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses/lighthouse_list/whitby.html | url-status = dead }}

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Category:Lighthouses completed in 1858

Category:Lighthouses in North Yorkshire

Category:Grade II listed lighthouses

Category:Grade II listed buildings in North Yorkshire

Category:Whitby

Category:1858 establishments in England