Portland Bill, Dorset - Lighthouse - postcard c.1950s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  The Lighthouse, Portland Bill
• Publisher:  none given [has no. 96]
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  2&half d. red Wilding
• Postmark(s):  Weymouth 17 Aug 1950s?
• Sent to:  Upper Weston, Bath, Somerset
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Portland Bill Lighthouse is a functioning lighthouse on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. The lighthouse is located at the very south of the island, warning coastal traffic off of Portland Bill. The lighthouse and its boundary walls are Grade II Listed and have been since May 1993.^[1]

As Portland's largest and most recent lighthouse, the Trinity House operated Portland Bill Lighthouse is distinctively white and red striped, standing at a height of 41 metres (135 ft). It was completed by 1906 and first shone out on 11 January 1906.^[2]

Both Portland Bill and Chesil Beach are the locations of many wrecks of vessels that failed to reach Weymouth or Portland Roads. Portland Bill Lighthouse guides vessels heading for Portland and Weymouth through these hazardous waters as well as acting as a waymark for ships navigating the English Channel.^[3] The rocky promontory of Portland Bill has often been regarded as one of the greatest navigational hazards in the Channel. A treacherous race, which can run at 10 knots in spring tidal streams, is created as tide and current clash as they round it. The dangers are worsened by the Shambles, which is a two mile long sandbank that lies south-east of Portland Bill and whose depth reaches a mere 11 feet in two places at low tide. It is likely that the Romans would light beacon fires on Branscombe Hill above Bill Point to warn sailors, as well as on Verne Hill, but the lack of local fuel prevented any regular light being established. Ancient fires probably served more as signals than as general lights. As a result the island coast has been the graveyard of countless ships from the earliest times, before any lighthouses were built.^[4] Originally, both the Old Higher Lighthouse and Old Lower Lighthouse were the two functioning lighthouses on the island, and both were opened in 1716, continuing to warn ships of the dangerous coast until 1906, when both were decommissioned.

On 17 June 1903, Messrs J. Lano, H. Sansom, R. Pearce, F. J. Barnes, and Robert White appointed a Committee by a meeting of Commoners to treat with the Corporation of Trinity House for the acquisition of one acre, 66 poles of land at the Bill, for a new lighthouse.^[5] The group met in the George Inn to discuss plans for the new lighthouse. The Higher and Lower Lighthouses could not be adapted to take on the latest apparatus, and so Trinity House made plans to build a single lighthouse on Bill Point. However this was common land and so compensation had to be paid for the loss of the local people's common rights. By October that year an agreement was reached and a convoy of contactors' carts and traction engines made their way along the rough road to the remote tip of Portland Bill to start work. The Lighthouse's foundations were dug deep into the rock, and the stone was quarried almost on the spot.^[6] The lighthouse was built with stone from surrounding quarries at Portland Bill. The area was quarried for centuries until they were abandoned by the early years of the 20th century, following the lighthouse's construction.^[2]

By mid-1905 the builders, Wakeham Bros of Plymouth, had completed the high masonry tower, when Chance & Co of Birmingham arrived to hoist their great lantern to the top. The revolving lenses floating on a bath of mercury were designed to send a two and a half metre candlepower beam (from a vapourised oil burner) 18 miles on a clear night. As the scaffolding was taken down, the stonework was rendered, and the whole was painted in bright red and white livery, which has remained the tourist symbol of Portland ever since. The new lighthouse cost a total of £13,000. Lighthouse keepers Taylor and Comben moved house from the old Lower Light and they lit the new lamp for the first time on 11 January 1906.^[7] A year after the construction of the lighthouse, the contractors Wakeham Brothers erected the Clock Tower of Easton Gardens on Portland.^[8] The Old Lower Lighthouse became a bird observatory^[9] whilst the Old Higher Lighthouse became the home of Marie Stopes, and today remains a holiday let.^[6]

Portland struggled without mains electricity until 1930. Since the turn of the century the Council had resisted all competition to its gas works, hoping that one day it would pay its way. The resistance could be held no longer, and an agreement was made to lay on an electric supply generated at Weymouth. In the £25,000 scheme Underhill and Easton were first to be switched on, on 1 July 1930, and two years later the cables were extended to Weston and Southwell, then the Grove. However Portland Bill and the Lighthouse had to wait until 1938.^[10]

The lighthouse was swathed in scaffolding and polythene when undergoing a facelift during 1990.^[2]

One of the old lamp holders from Portland Bill lighthouse can be seen at Portland Museum, which is found in the village of Wakeham, close to Church Ope Cove.^[2]

Arguably Portland's biggest attraction and most photographed feature, the Portland Bill Lighthouse is open to the public, where tours are operated by Trinity House, and the visitor centre was also a big part of the lighthouse until it was closed in September 2013 due to lack of funding by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.^[11] The visitor centre was a joint project between The Crown Estate, The Corporation of Trinity House and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. It was opened by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG KT on 14 July 1999.

The tours of Portland Bill Lighthouse are organised by The Crown Estate under licence from the Corporation of Trinity House.^[12] Often lasting approximately 45 minutes, visitors are able to climb the 153 steps to the top of the lighthouse on a guided tour with a former Lighthouse Keeper, and view both the inside of the lighthouse and its lamp as well as the surrounding Portland coastline.^[13]

The visitor centre is owned and operated independently from the actual tower lighthouse, and past occasions have seen the lighthouse closed to the public, whilst the centre would remain open. It opens from Easter to the end of September each year, and in 2007 was reported to receive 300,000 visitors a year.^[14] The centre featured various displays which provides insight and introduction into Portland's environment & heritage - ranging from geology, Portland stone and the Jurassic Coast. It also featured a shop which stocks various local souvenirs.^[15] The nearby Trinity House Obelisk and Pulpit Rock are also popular attractions in the area.

The lighthouse received a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence in 2013.^[16]

The lighthouse was demanned on 18th March 1996, and all monitoring and control of the station was transferred to the Trinity House Operations & Planning Centre in Harwich.^[3]

Portland Bill Lighthouse uses a 1 Kw Mbi lamp and 4 Panel 1St Order Catadioptric Fixed Lens. The light flashes four times every 20 seconds and has an intensity of 635,000 candelas, with a range of 25 nautical miles. Also having a fog signal for times of bad weather, the signal uses a four second blast every 30 seconds, with a range of 2 nautical miles.^[3] The Type F diaphone was decommissioned in 1996, but restored in 2003 for the benefit of visitors, where it is sounded every Sunday morning as an added attraction on the island but only used in foggy conditions if the lighthouse is out of operation.^[17]

The present optic at the lighthouse is unusual due to the arrangement of the panels, where the character gradually changes from one flash to four flashes between the bearings 221°-224° and from four flashes to one flash between bearings 117°-141°.^[3]

type=printed

city/ region=portland

period=post-war (1945-present)

postage condition=posted

number of items=single

size=standard (140x89 mm)