Trevose Head Lighthouse

Trevose Head Lighthouse stands on Trevose Head, a rugged promontory on Cornwall’s north coast near St Merryn. The 27-metre tower rises above cliffs that stretch between Padstow and Hartland Point, filling a 160-kilometre gap in coastal lighting. Its beam reaches 37 kilometres on a clear night and has been seen from Pendeen Lighthouse, 56 kilometres away. The site was chosen in 1844 by the Trinity Board to guide ships past the dangerous rocks off the headland. The lighthouse was designed by James Walker and built by Jacob & Thomas Olver of Falmouth under Henry Norris. It first shone on 1 December 1847 with two lights, a high tower and a lower one 15 metres in front, linked by a covered passage for keepers. In 1882 the high light became an occulting beam flashing three times every minute. A rotating optic weighing 3.6 tonnes was installed in 1912 and served for over a century. A fog signal nicknamed ‘Lord Rayleigh’s trumpet’ followed in 1913, using a 5-inch siren and a 11-metre horn. Visitors today can walk the cliff paths around the lighthouse and see the pair of semi-detached keepers’ cottages, now holiday lets. The engine house that once housed the fog signal and diesel compressors has been removed, but its foundations remain. The tower still carries a fixed LED lantern that produces the required flash pattern. The headland offers wide views across the Atlantic and down the Camel Estuary towards Padstow.