Cooke & Arkwright
News
Shining a light on a day in the life
16/06/09
When John Day leaves his house for work in the morning, he never knows what challenges the day will bring. John’s job is a little bit more unusual than most and sometimes involves hanging 130 feet up in the air, braving the sea and battling the prospect of ghosts.
John, a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in Wales, is one of the nation’s few surveyors of lighthouses which provide navigation to ships and seafarers.
John, of Cooke & Arkwright, said: “Everyone thinks that a career as a chartered surveyor is a little bit boring, but the honest answer is far from it. Trinity House, the General Lighthouse Authority, instructed us to survey all the lighthouses on and off the Welsh coastline to carry out a planned schedule and specify repairs for the next 10 years.
“We’ve travelled all the way from Nash Point and Caldey Island in South Wales to Strumble in West Wales and up to Anglesey in North Wales to visit different lighthouses. The instruction tested our nerves, pushed our fitness limits and brought us face to face with a born survivor.”
Each lighthouse calls for a different range of skills, equipment and a degree of fortitude to gain safe access. Nash Point lighthouse near Llantwit Major is located on land, so access was not thought to be a problem. However the instruction called for the roof to be surveyed in detail.
John said, “On a normal house this can be carried out from a ladder, but at 130 ft high this roof called for a specialist scaffold system, full safety harnesses and nerves of steel. It’s a stunning view – if you can bring yourself to look down.
“And South Stack Lighthouse, off Anglesey, is certainly not for the unfit. There are 410 stone steps set into the steep cliff face, after which you cross a suspension bridge spanning a divide 21 metres above sea level.”
South Stack is 200 years old and is thought to be haunted; it recently starred in an episode of television series ‘Most Haunted’.
John continued: “In days long gone a donkey was used to carry all goods and equipment to the lighthouse. It may be his ghost and the sound of his hooves that haunts the island today, but more likely it is that of Jack Jones, the assistant lighthouse keeper. He was struck on the head by a rock when making his way across the old iron bridge in October 1859, during the most severe storm of the century. He fell bleeding on the path and lay there until he was found the next morning. He died three weeks later of a broken skull.
“There were no storms this time and we didn’t come across any evidence of ghosts during our survey, thank goodness, just the smell of sea salt and engine grease.
“Another challenge was when we had to visit a lighthouse on a small island off the Lleyn Peninsula. It took nearly an hour in very rough seas to get there and we had to leap from the boat onto a small stone landing bay.
“Lighthouses have not been manned since 1988, so we were surprised to be greeted by Bear Grylls - star of the television series Born Survivor. He owns the island and lives in the old lighthouse keeper’s cottage when he is not travelling to remote places around the globe. The island should suit his adventurous spirit as it has no gas, electricity or water.
“But perhaps the trickiest site to access was Trwyn-Du lighthouse, near Puffin Island. It is located just 100 metres from the shoreline but has no landing facilities. This time, we had to leap from the boat onto the base of the lighthouse, before climbing 10 metres up the vertical face of the circular stone structure, using hand and footholds cut into the building’s surface. The doors are located that high to prevent water entering the structure at high tide. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do. So for anyone who thinks surveying is boring, think again.
“In all, we have surveyed 10 lighthouses to-date and more will follow as the programme expands. When you tell people you’re a surveyor, they don’t expect you to say that you’ve been leaping from boats and clambering up the side of lighthouses. It’s not the most common of jobs but it’s all in a day’s work.
“Many of the remaining lighthouses are offshore and may require a helicopter ride to access them. That’s certainly going to test my nerves as I’m definitely not a keen flyer.”
Tom Arculus, Trinity House’s estates and property manager and RICS member, said, “We have been pleased with the services provided to us by Cooke & Arkwright so far. Their surveyors clearly enjoy being sent on these unusual missions. Luckily none of them have been stuck on station due to bad weather yet but when that happens we will really see what they’re made of.”
Pictured top: South Stack, middle and below: climbing up Trwyn Du