St Tudwal's Lighthouse

St Tudwal's Island, Caernarfonshire

Location Guide

Photo By Colin Park

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The Lighthouse is a small, now unmanned, light which marks the north end of Cardigan Bay. The stone tower is 10.7m (35ft) high and was built in 1877.

The lighthouse keepers' cottages are now privately owned and used as a holiday home. The light has a range of 14 nautical miles and is 46 metres above high water. The tower is painted white.

Its History

St Tudwal’s Lighthouse is on the small island of St Tudwal, off Penrhyn Du, Tremadoc Bay, Gwynedd.

In 1876 the site of the lighthouse was purchased by Trinity House for £111, and the construction of the tower and housing completed the following year.

In 1922 the light was converted to acetylene operation and was operated by means of a sun valve. This mechanism, which was invented by the Swedish lighthouse engineer, Gustaf Dalen, consists of an arrangement of reflective gold-plated copper bars supporting a suspended black rod, when lit by the sun the black rod absorbs the direct heat and that reflected from the other bars and expands downwards, cutting off the supply of gas.

Following the introduction of the acetylene equipment the lighthouse was automated and the keepers houses next to the tower were sold in 1935.

St Tudwal's Lighthouse was modernised and converted to solar powered operation in 1995.

The 1 storey keeper's house was sold as a private residence in 1935, the entire island on which the lighthouse stands is now privately owned.

Lighthouse information Grid

Name:	St Tudwal's Lighthouse, Caernarfonshire
Current status:	Currently in use
Geographic Position:	52° 47’.9 N 04° 28’.2 W
Grid Reference:	SH334252
Ceremonial County:	Caernarfonshire
Appearance:	Round cylindrical masonry tower with lantern and gallery, painted white.
Map Link:	Multimap
Aerial photo:	Multimap Google satellite view
Other photos:	Geograph photo
Originally built:	1877
Current lighthouse built:
Height of Tower:	11m 35ft
Height of light above mean sea level:	46m 151ft
Character of light:	One White And Red Flash Every 15 Seconds white or red depending on direction
Character of fog signal:
Range of light:	White 14 nautical miles; Red 10 nautical miles
Owned / run by:	Trinity House
Getting there:	On St. Tudwal's Island West, at the western entrance to Tremadoc Bay about 5km (3 mi) southeast of Abersoch.
Access:	None - privately owned island
Website:	TH
Other Useful Websites:	Wiki
Routes:
Other Relevant pages:	For more articles, lists and other information see the Lighthouses Section Lighthouse Map of England and Wales Featured List of Lighthouses - England and Wales List of Minor Lighthouses and Lights - England and Wales
Notes:

Please let us know any other information that we can add to the Grid or page and any errors that you discover. Before making a long trip to any location it is always wise to double check the current information, websites like magazines may be correct at the time the information is written, but things change and it is of course impossible to double check all entries on a regular basis. If you have any good photographs that you feel would improve the illustration of this page then please let us have copies. In referring to this page it is helpful if you quote both the Page Ref and Topic or Section references from the Grid below. To print the planning grid select it then right click and print the selected area.

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By: Keith Park	Section: Lighthouses Section	Key:
Page Ref: St_Tudwals	Topic: Lighthouses	Last Updated: 06/2010

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