Caldey Lighthouse is located on the south end of

Caldey Island Caldey Island (Welsh language, Welsh:''Ynys Bŷr'') is a small island near Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, less than off the coast. With a recorded history going back over 1,500 years, it is one of the holy islands of Britain. A number of trad ...

, three miles (5 km) off the south

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

, Wales coastline, a small island inhabited by a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery.

Construction and dimensions

An application to build the

Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

was made in March 1827 on behalf of traders in

Carmarthen Bay Carmarthen Bay () is an inlet of the South Wales coast, including notable beaches such as Pendine Sands and Cefn Sidan sands. Carmarthen Bay is partially within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee list C ...

. It was commissioned by

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

and built by Joseph Nelson at a cost of £4,460. The light was first lit in 1829. The Lighthouse is a squat, round, brick-lined

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

of 17.07 m (56 ft), with walls 0.91 m (3 ft) thick at the base and thick at the top. The light stands 64 m (210 ft) above high-water mark. It acts in conjunction with the Lundy North lighthouse to the south, and has a range of . The former oil store for the lighthouse is a listed structure.

Lantern and lamp

The present

lantern A lantern is a source of lighting, often portable. It typically features a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle, a oil lamp, wick in oil, or a thermoluminescence, thermoluminescent Gas mantle, mesh, and often a ...

was fitted around the middle of the nineteenth century and consisted of 20

Argand lamp The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequen ...

s and reflectors, subsequently replaced by a helical lantern later in the nineteenth century. The Lighthouse was converted to automatic operations in 1929. It was the last Trinity House lighthouse to be powered by gas, eventually being converted to electricity in 1997. The light was intended to help coastal traffic trading limestone and coal to mid and north

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

but the light also helped long-distance and north

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

traffic identify the

Bristol Channel The Bristol Channel (, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales (from Pembrokeshire to the Vale of Glamorgan) and South West England (from Devon to North Somerset). It extends ...

and avoid confusion with the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

Keeper's cottages

The

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

s' cottages, that flank the Lighthouse, are two-storey, with hipped roofs, octagonal chimneys, and a one-storey linking corridor. This forms a ‘U’-shape, with the Lighthouse at the centre of the south side, and enclosed gardens to the north. The cottages were built around 1868-70 by T. C. Harvey, C.E.

In art

Cardiff Central Library Cardiff Central Library (now Cardiff Central Library Hub) () is the main library in the Cardiff city centre, city centre of Cardiff, Wales. It offers a public library service and is open six days a week. Four buildings have been named as such, ...

holds a wash drawing by Charles Norris showing the Lighthouse under construction.

References

Sources

*Hague, D. B., Lighthouses of Wales Their Architecture and Archaeology (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, 1994), *Lloyd, T., Orbach, J., Scourfield, R., The Buildings of Wales: Pembrokeshire (Yale University Press, 2004), .

External links

Trinity House
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1828 Lighthouses in Pembrokeshire