Swanage, Dorset - Country Park, Anvil Point Lighthouse - postcard

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve, Swanage, Dorset - [also shows Anvil Point Lighthouse]
• Publisher:  Durlston Park
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• 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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^{The Anvil Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located near Swanage in Dorset. It is built of local stone and was completed in 1881. It was opened by Neville Chamberlain's father, then Minister of Transport. The lighthouse tower is twelve metres tall, the height of the light above the high-water mark is 45 m (148 ft). The light is positioned to give a waypoint for vessels passing along the English Channel coast.}

^{Originally the light was illuminated by a paraffin vapour burner (PVB). During 1960 the lighthouse was modernised and electrified. It was fully automated on 31 May 1991 and is now monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations Control Centre at Harwich.[1]}

^{The lighthouse had a 1000 watt filament lamp with an intensity of 500,000 Candela. The lights range was about 19 nautical miles (35 km; 22 mi), but was reduced to 9 nautical miles (17 km; 10 mi) following a review of aids to navigation in 2010.[2] The old fog signal was a 5 minute cannon. The fog signal was replaced during 1981 by new automatic equipment, but it has now been discontinued. In 2012 with a LED lamp was installed above the rotating Fresnel lens to serve as the main light at Anvil Point; its character is, as it was previously, a white Flash every 10 Seconds. The old lens, though no longer in use, remains in place in the tower.}

^{The lighthouse is near a visitor centre and is sometimes open to the public for tours. This area is an area of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Some of the old buildings have been refurbished as holiday cottages.}

^{Durlston Country Park is a 1.13 square kilometre (280-acre) country park and nature reserve stretching along the coast of the Isle of Purbeck at Durlston near Swanage in Dorset, England. The Park, which is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, has been owned by Dorset County Council since the early 1970s and is mostly open access.}

^{The Lighthouse is at Anvil Point is built of local stone and was completed in 1881.}

^{The Park has a mosaic of habitats, hosting a wide range of species. Habitats include sea-cliffs, downs, ancient meadows, hedgerows, woodland, and dry-stone walls – each with their characteristic plants and animals. These include 33 species of breeding butterfly, over 250 species of bird recorded, 500 wildflowers, 500 moths and thousands of other invertebrates.}

^{The underlying rock is limestone so the majority of the park is calcareous grassland, probably created about 1000 years ago by clearing of oak forest, hosting a range of wild flower species and associated animals such as butterflies.}

^{In the 19th and 20th centuries Purbeck was quarried for its high-quality limestone. There were few open-cast quarries, and none in Durlston, but there are many mine shafts across the landscape, notably Tilly Whim Caves in a dry glacial meltwater valley.}

^{In 1887 George Burt built a small 'castle' at Durlston Head, on the hill above Durlston Bay and the town of Swanage. The Durlston Castle was never a real castle, but was purpose-built to be used as a restaurant for his Durlston estate. Burt also commissioned a 40-ton limestone Globe, three metres in diameter, engraved with an 1880s world map. The footpaths around the Castle and Globe are lined with cast iron London bollards which were left in Swanage having been used as ballast by the ships transporting stone to London. Other ornaments include plaques carved with quotations from Shakespeare and the Bible, maps showing the English Channel and the United Kingdom, and facts about the natural world.}