Isle of Man

Place of the lighthouse

Maughold Head is located in the northeast of the island, approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) from Ramsey, at the southern end of Ramsey Bay. Maughold Head is the easternmost point of the Isle of Man and the closest point the Isle of Man has to England, being 50 kilometers (31 miles) from St. Bees Head in Cumbria.

Although many Manx names come from the Norse language, no suitable derivation can be found for this name. It is propobably Gaelic although not spelt phonetically like Manx Gaelic and could be from Maug, a plain or meadow, and Allt a burn, the meadow of the burn.

Following a meeting on 3 February 1909 regarding new works, the Board of Trade requested the suggestion of Mr Gardner (engineer) to install a light and foghorn at Maughold Head. This suggestion was put forward in response to a complaint from Lord Inverclyde that the Whitestone Bank Light had often been extinguished and that on several occasions ships had been damaged.

As there was no lighthouse between Point of Ayre and Douglas Head it was advised that a light and fog signal would be a great advance for navigation, but as the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouse Board had proposed other new works it was decided that Maughold Head was not really urgent. It was agreed that work on Maughold Head lighthouse would be included in the 1910-1911 budget.

Building of the Lighthouse

On August 26, 1909, legal approval was sought from Trinity House. Trinity House refused to give their approval because a fog siren and light had already been installed at the Bahama Bank (Bahama Bank Lightvessel), 4 miles from Maughold Head, which had been operated by Trinity House since 1st January 1848. The matter was kept under discussion. Approval from Trinity House was again requested and this was ultimately granted through the intercession of the Board of Trade.

Lighthouse keepers of Maughold Head
Names with brackets (Year) indicates keeper was there - no other information available
Year	From Station	Keeper Name	To Station	Year
	Tiumpan Head	B. Bagg	HQ House Officer	1970
1974	Douglas Head	L. Anderson	Retired	1982
		D. MacDonald	St Abbs Head	1974
1974	Langness	R. Shand
1975	Muckle Flugga	T. Georgeson	Resigned	1978
		G.C. Birse	Isle of May	1975
		W.B. Crockett	Noss Head	1977
1977	Douglas Head	G.F. Adamson	Rubha Reidh	1983
1979	SLK	N. Douglas	Sanda Island	1983
1979	SLA	A.M. Marshall	Killantringan	1985
		W.S. Smith	Covesea Skerries	1979
1979	Langness	N.S.Cargill	Strathy Point	1984
1982	Davaar	R.Gatt	Point of Ayre	1987
1983	Butt of Lewis	R. Grassom	Langness	1986
1983	Maugold Head	G. Dugdale	Sumburgh Head	1986
1984	Hyskier	A. MacKay	Retired	1986
1985	Maugold Head	W.J. Norris	Ailsa Craig	1986
1986	Sanda Island	M.R. Williams	Langness	1991
1986	Kinnaird Head	J. Drumond	Butt of Lewis	1990
1986	Cape Wrath	A. Dorricot	Muckle Flugga	1991
1987	Point of Ayre	A. Hutchison	Fair Isle	1989
1989	Mauglod Head	N.S. Cargill	Redundant	1994
1990	Butt of Lewis	D. MacIver	R/ALK	1993
1991	Sumburgh Head	M.A. Young	R/ALK	1994
		J. Burns	Retired	1992
1992	Hyskier	D. Leslie	Rinns of Islay	1993
1992	Maugold Head	R.J. Daggert	Redundant	1995
1993	St Abbs Head	N. Muir	Retired	1995
1993	Point of Ayre	G. Adamson	Redundant	1995
1994	Strathy Point	M.N. Forge		1995
1994	Fair Isle South	D. Wise	Hyskier	1995
Local ALK
1974		A.G. Adamson
1978		A.B. Caine	Redundant	1987
Attendant
1993		D. Fox	Redundant	2004
Retained lighthouse Keeper
2004		D. Fox

David Alan and Charles Stevenson were appointed engineers on behalf of the Northern Lighthouses Board and designed the lighthouse. Mr James MacBeth was appointed Inspector of building works and Messrs D & J MacDougall of Oban were the contractors.

The cylindrical tower with a slight taper is a brickwork and painted white structure. At the top of the tower are two platforms with iron balustrades. These platforms made it possible to carry out maintenance on the outside side of the lantern room. The landings are connected by painted metal stairs, with copper covers/decorations for the openings.

The lantern room is made of metal and has glazing framed in a lattice pattern. While the lantern room has 360 degree glazing, the landward, west-facing part of the glazing is painted black to provide light protection to the former keeper's cottage.

The spiral staircase in the lighthouse has 87 steps. This spiral staircase gives access to the lantern room. The lighthouse has no space for habitation. Living accommodation for the lighthouse keeper(s) was provided in a separate building further up the headland (connected to the lighthouse by an external staircase of 128 steps).

After the light was established at Maughold Head on 15th April 1914 the Bahama Bank Lightvessel was subsequently withdrawn.

Warning systems (Light)

The original 1st Order refractor Fresnel lens developed by the Stevenson brothers had three flashes every 30 seconds (fl 0.5s, ec 2.0s; fl 0.5s, ec 2.0s; fl 0.5s, ec 24.5s). Lantern (dome) and parapet were made by AC Westwood Machine. The machine with revolving carrige sytem, on which the Fresnel lens is mounted, was developed by Dove & Co of Edinburgh. Diamond incandescent 55mm paraffin vapour burner for the illuminant was made by Chance Bros from Birmingham.

In 1983, the paraffin vapor burner was replaced by an electric 250 watt mercury vapor burner. The original clockwork drive was retained. In 1983,

the paraffin vapor burner was replaced by an electric 250 watt mercury vapor burner. The original clockwork drive was retained. In 1993 the entire installation was automated with remote monitoring of the system carried out by the Northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh. At that moment the clockwork drive was changed to an electric motor.

A temporary light was installed as of November 25, 2016. After a conversion on January 17, 2018, modern equipment was put into use as the main light, consisting of a flashing LED optic connected to the mains supply, consisting of 2x Sealite lanterns Type SL-300-1D5-1 with a range of 15 nautical miles (~ 28 kilometer). The first order Fresnel lens and associated equipment, as supplied when built in 1914, are still extant.

Warning systems (Foghorn)

A fog signal was first heard on April 16, 1914. The necessary equipment was originally made by the company Dove & Co, who also made the rotating mechanism for the lens. In the 1930s/40s this installation was replaced by Kelvin two cylinder diesel engines with Alley & Maclelan "Sentinel" compressors. The fog signal was shut down in 1987.