Pendeen Lighthouse is located to the north of Pendeen in west Cornwall, United Kingdom.[1] Designed by the Trinity House Engineer Sir Thomas Matthews, the 17 m tower, buildings and surrounding wall was constructed by Arthur Carkeek of Redruth. The five-wick Argand lamp provided by Messrs. Chance, of Birmingham, was commissioned on 26 September 1900 and replaced in 1926 by an electric one. The original Argand oil lamp was on display at the Trinity House National Lighthouse Museum, Penzance until 2005 when the museum closed. Pendeen Lighthouse was automated in 1995 with the keepers leaving the station on 3 May.[2]
Apart from the tower itself, with its machinery built into the base, there is an 'E' shaped building split into a terrace of four cottages. Three of the cottages were originally used to house the three resident keepers, their wives and families, with the fourth used as an office area and sleeping accommodation for the supernumerary keepers. They are now let as holiday cottages.
Behind the cottages there were three kitchen gardens (which soon fell into disuse as nothing would grow in such an exposed position) and, on the seaward side of the complex, a fog horn and its accompanying machinery. Water was originally collected off the flat roof of the accommodation block and stored in an underground tank. So, apart from food and paraffin, the lighthouse keepers were virtually self-sufficient.
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