KANNUR LIGHTHOUSE

The Lighthouse is situated within the municipality limits of Kannur city. Kannur is an important Railway station on Mangalore-Shoranur section. The Lighthouse is about 3 km away from the Railway station.Kannur was a flourishing Port under Malabar ruler Samuri ( Zamorin ) in 15th century.The port had maritime links with Madras, Colombo, Tuticorin, Alleppey, Mangalore, Bombay and Karachi. The Portuguese lead by Vasco Da Gama landed first at Kapad beach near here in1498. They built Fort St. Angelo in the early 16th century at the southern end of the town. Two century later the region came under the British control. They established a cantonment at Kannur in 19th century. The Fort served as a prominent land mark. In 1843 a system of hoisting a lantern with oil wick lamp was introduced. A masonry pedestal was constructed in 1903 on the rampart of the fort and a double wick oil lamp inside the 4th order dioptric lens and lantern with arrangement for occultation was placed on this pedestal. The light used to be available during fair seasons only – September to May. In 1924 some improvements took place. The light was shifted in 1939 on to a 16m steel trestle erected on the northern bastion of the Fort. The equipment was replaced by a flashing light with 10 sec character working on DA gas in 1948. This light remained in operation till the new Lighthouse Tower was constructed at the present location during 1975-76. The PRB-42 equipment with 6V 30W `C‟ type sealed beam lamps, supplied by M/s. J. Stone India, Calcutta, was installed on this tower. The lighthouse was commissioned into service on 25th July 1976. The 2.4m diameter GI lantern house fabricated at Cochin was installed at the station and the `C‟ type sealed beam lamps were replaced by `D‟ type sealed beam lamps on 31st May 2003.

Master Ledger of KANNUR LIGHTHOUSE(860.71 KB)