
Chicken Rock is a rock located 1 mile south of Calf of Man and approximately 3 miles from the mainland of the Isle of Man. The general topography is that of an algae-covered rock, submerged at high tide. The adjacent Calf of Man Island is one of the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Ecological Conservation Significance managed by Manx Natural Heritage. The Chicken Rock (Manx: Carrick ny Kirkey) lighthouse stands on this cliff on the south side of the Calf of Man. (see also the photo at the end of this page).
The Chicken Rock was originally marked in 1818 by two lighthouses on the Calf of Man (Low and High) in a leading line. With a sextant the sailor could estimate his actual distance at a mile from the coast. Due to their height of over 93 meters, the lighthouses could not be observed in fog or low cloud when most needed.
The Chicken Rock (Manx: Carrick ny Kirkey) lighthouse, is placed on a cliff at the southernmost end of the Isle of Man. The islolated cliff lies southwest of the island Calf of Man and 4.5 kilometres off the Isle of Man mainland (see also the picture at the end of this page).The need for a lighthouse on Chicken Rock was identified by the problems of fog obscuring the two lights on the nearby Calf of Man. The two lights on the Calf of Man would appear as one from the rocks. The problem, however, was that the higher light on the Calf of Man was often (about 30% of the time) within the fog belt which made its visibility not reliable. These dangerous waters, aside from this problem, were marked by these lighthouses for a period of nearly 60 years (between 1818- 1875).
On November 13, 1866, the Board of Trade forwarded a proposal which was unanimously adopted by the committee set up by the Mercantile Service Association of Liverpool.
The content of the proposal was; "Since the lighthouses on the Calf of Man were so often shrouded in mist, they were considered virtually useless. The request was to move one of these lighthouses to the Chicken Rock. A rock located approximately 2 kilometers south of the Calf of Man was so extensive that this rock posed a major danger to shipping.
This proposal was adopted by David Thomas Stevenson and included in his report of 22 October 1867. The matter was referred to Trinity House, who wrote to the Board of Trade on 21 November 1867 adopting the proposal.
Trinity House stressed that a light on Chicken Rock would be a great help to sailors wishing to sail to the east, west and north of the Isle of Man. On April 6, 1868, the Board of Trade ordered development of this lighthouse on Chicken Rock to proceed.
In 1869, the Northern Lighthouse Commissioners (predecessor of the NLB) approved a recommendation to build a lighthouse, 44 meters high tower, on the Chicken Rock. the work began in 1870, taking almost five years to complete.
The tower, designed by David Lillie Stevenson and Thomas Stevenson, used granite from Dalbeattie in the county Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The lighthouse is constructed of granite blocks forming a tapered tower, metal framed glass in the lantern room and gallery. Also elements of timber panelling. The upper levels, just below the lantarn room, contain kitchen, provision room, and the bedrooms. The lowest levels contain coal and water store, oil store and a dry store.Keepers from the Calf of Man | |||
Year | Keeper | To Station | Year |
1873 | T. Dawson(PLK) | Chicken Rock | 1875 |
H. Mercer | Chicken Rock | 1875 | |
N. McDonald | Chicken Rock | 1875 | |
P.J. Wallace | Chicken Rock | 1875 |

Construction of the lighthouse finished in December 1874, with the first official lighting day taking place on 1 January 1875. The total cost was £64,559.
As a result the two lighthouses on the island Calf of Man fell into disuse. The four keepers from the Calf of Man High and Low Lighthouses were transferred to the Chicken Rock lighthouse, becoming the first four lighthouse keepers.
Their accommodation was now within the tower. However, the old Calf of Man keepershouses were used as the keepers’ shore station until 1886.
When the Commissioners (of the NLB), inspected Chicken Rock lighthouse and the Shore Station on the Calf of Man, recommended that the shore station be removed to Port St Mary, where the boatman and crew lived, who supplied the lighthouse.
This decision was partly due to the fact that little wanted to grow on the Calf of Man, because of the “legions of rats” that lived on the island. Note: At the same time as overseeing this project, the Stevenson brothers were also involved in the building of the lighthouse on Dubh Artach, located in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The Dubh Artach lighthouse is also a granite tower on a rock.Lighthouse keepers of the Chicken Rock | ||||
Names with brackets (Year) indicates keeper was there - no other information available | ||||
Year | From Station | Keeper Name | To Station | Year |
1875 | Calf of Man | T. Dawson | ||
1875 | Calf of Man | H. Mercer | ||
1875 | Calf of Man | N. McDonald | ||
1875 | Calf of Man | P.J. Wallace | Skerryvore | 1894 |
N. McIntosh (1888) | ||||
J. Black (1888) | ||||
S. Fraser(1888) | ||||
A. Hudgeon (1888) | ||||
A. Laidlow (1890) | ||||
R. MacIntosh (1894) | ||||
1894 | Hoy | A. McLeod | ||
1894 | Douglas Head | A. Milne | ||
1896 | T. Dawson | Turnberry | 1907 | |
A. McDonald((1903) | ||||
T. Middleman(1906) | ||||
A. Rogers (1906) | ||||
W. Seddons (1906) | ||||
1906 | A. Ingram | Dunnet Head | 1910 | |
1907 | J. Simson | Girdle Ness | 1911 | |
1906 | M. Bruce | Butt of Lewis | 1914 | |
1910 | J.H. McLeod | Maughold Head | 1918 | |
1911 | Skerryvore | J. Gair | ||
W. Quillin (1911) | ||||
1914 | Girdle Ness | R. Anderson | ||
R. Laidlow (1913) | ||||
A. Bruce | ||||
T. Middlemiss (1912) | ||||
1916 | W. Smith | Girdle Ness | 1925 | |
1918 | D. MacKenzie | Butt of Lewis | 1920 | |
H.D. McInnes | Bressey | 1925 | ||
1919 | J. Hislop | Pladda | 1926 | |
1920 | Mull of Gallway | J.T. Gifford | Tiumpan Head | 1924 |
1924 | Dunnet Head | J. Cunningham | Rhinns of Islay | 1927 |
1925 | Kinnaird Head | B. MacKenzie | Maughold Head | 1930 |
1926 | Kinnaird Head | W. Emslie | ||
1927 | Inchkeith | J. Petrie | ||
J. Henderson (1929) | ||||
1929 | Cape Wrath | C.L. Gilbertson | ||
A. Davidson | Douglas Head | 1935 | ||
1930 | Barns Ness | A. Sim | Mull of Kintyre | 1935 |
J. Campbell (1930) | ||||
1935 | Copinsay | J. Foubister | Girdle Ness | 1941 |
A. MacAuley | Fair Isle | 1937 | ||
1937 | Rhinns of Islay | T. Shaw | Point of Ayre | 1943 |
J. Fobisher (1938) | ||||
J. Kirkpatrick | Maughold Head | 1938 | ||
1938 | Maughold Head | G. Davidson | ||
1941 | Sumburgh Head | T. Rendall | ||
1943 | Point of Ayre | R. Park | 1946 | |
1946 | Tod Head | T. Budge | Dunnet Head | 1948 |
1946 | G. Sulter | |||
1946 | D. Galbraith | Stoer Head | 1953 | |
1953 | Buchan Ness | A. MacEachern | ||
J. Mainland (1949) | ||||
N. Squires (1949) | ||||
D. Cormack (1949) | ||||
1948 | Langness | C. Roberts | Inchkeith | 1960 |
J. McGaw (1955) | ||||
E. Sayle (1956) | ||||
A. McGaw (1956) | ||||
T. Kermode (1956) | ||||
A. Brown (1956) | ||||
A. Comb (1957) | ||||
1955 | Orkneys | A. Adams | ||
1960 | Dunnet Head | J.A. Ross | ||
L. Anderson (1960) | ||||
1960 | Copinsay | A. Salthouse* | Langness | |
*) Salthouse was posted to provide cooking and cleaning etc services to workers repairing the lighthouse after the fire and automation of the light | ||||
There was much correspondence and disagreement between David Thomas Stevenson and Trinity House over the proposal to display a red sector on Chicken Rock, so as to mark a route around Langness Point and to place ten additional lamps in the light room for this purpose.
Mr Stevenson argued that the red sector would be useless in foggy weather and that there would be surface reflections, poor ventilation and the rotating plane would be off-centre in the lightroom. Trinity House refuted these objections, stating that difficulties could be overcome by using a larger lantern and placing the lens in the center and using Calzo oil instead of paraffin.
The red sector and auxiliary equipment were mounted under protest. However, experiments were made which confirmed Mr. Stevenson's opinion, and when the Chicken Rock Light was first exhibited on January 1, 1875, it was without the red aid and using paraffin instead of Calzo.
In 1875, the first lighting consisted of eight annular lenses. The light was originally fuelled by paraffin with 5 wicks, although the type of fuel used and whether the optics should display a red sector light was a matter of dispute between David and the Northern Lighthouse Board. The optic revolved by clockwork around a paraffin vapour burner once every 4 minutes giving a flash every 30 seconds. The clockwork had to be manually wound every hour. In 1905 an incandescent paraffin vapor burner was installed.
After the fire in 1960, the lighthouse was automated. A 4th order catadioptric lens was fitted burning propane AGA and gave a flashing white light every 5 seconds.
By 1968 a new light was established on the Calf of Man. As a result, Chicken Rock Lighthouse was downgraded to minor light status. A radio beacon station was established at Cregneish on the isle of Man in 1938 to provide maintain communication with Chicken Rock Lighthouse. Once it had become a major light again, Chicken Rock Lighthouse was monitored by radio link to Langness Lighthouse.
In 1990 the lighthouse was equipped with solar panels and a six-way lamp changer. The new lighting was provided by a 35 Watt Halegon lamp. In 1999 the 4th Order lens was removed and transferred to the House of Mannanan museum in Peel on the Isle of Man.
In 2007 this was replaced by a 70 Watt CDMT Biform on one gearless pedestal, the range increased from 13 to 20 Nautical Miles. Following this upgrade, the Calf of Man Lighthouse was decommissioned. The emergency lighting of the lighthouse consisted of two Sabik LED350-3 lanterns. These Sabik lights are mounted on the balcony and, as the type number indicates, consist of 3 layers.
By 2012 it was monitored by satellite link to the Northern Lighthouse Board’s operational centre in Edinbourgh.The lighthouse was equipped with two bells that gave an acoustic signal in foggy weather, when the light was not visible. The two fog bells sounded every 30 seconds in poor visibility. The bells were replaced in 1890 by a tonite fog signal. In 1911 a much louder fog signal was installed. The old bell was removed to St Catherine’s church in Port Erin and used as the church bell. Following the fire at Chicken Rock, a temporary fog horn was used until 1968 when a permanent foghorn gave two blasts every 60 seconds. The fog signal was discontinued in June 2005.
On the night of December 23, 1960, the lighthouse was seriously damaged internally by fire. The keepers became trapped on top of the burning lighthouse. The crew of the Port St Mary Lifeboat rescued them in very difficult weather conditions. The fire caused significant damage to the lighthouse.
In 1961 detailed consideration was given to the problem of the future status of the lighthouse taking into account the entire area. The required repair work accelerated the automation of the lighthouse. Over the next two years, the Calf of Man Low Light displayed a temporary light during restoration.
The proposal for a large light and fog signal on the Calf Man was provisionally included in the NLB's planning in September 1961. The engineer and commissioners then agreed that the matter would be referred to the shipowners/users. The majority approved the improvement of the lighthouse. The light was automated in 1961.
