The Lookout
Rame Head Lookout
Rame Head has a long history of being a nautical lookout.
A Chapel, dedicated to St Michael was built in the 11th century and a licence
to worship in it was granted in 1397. It has also been a hermitage and watchhouse
with a gallery and stairway. Records, dated 1488, show payments being made
to the watchmen by Plymouth Corporation for news of approaching vessels.
In 1588 the beacon blazed as the Armada fleet was first sighted a few miles
offshore. Subsequently, the medieval Chapel became a lookout for the arrival
of herring shoals.
Just inland from the Chapel is our Lookout, which was a Lloyds Signal & Reporting Station in the 18th century but closed in 1992, when the permanent Coastguard cover was withdrawn in a money saving exercise.
Rame Head Lookout forms part of a link in the chain of NCI coastal surveillance stations around the UK, which began in Cornwall in 1994.
Adjacent to the Lookout is a remote transmitter for Brixham Coastguard Centre, which forms part of the Radio Direction Finding Network.
In February 1998, a few local people met at the nearby village of Cawsand with the idea of re-opening it. Mt Edgcumbe Estate provided the building free of charge and naval recruits from HMS Raleigh, Torpoint renovated and painted the inside of the building. The watch re-opened on 2nd May 1998, without ceremony, with just a logbook and a pair of binoculars!
Our station overlooks the Rame Peninsula and has a commanding view with a clear 22 nautical miles (35 km) visibility to the south when the weather is good. Looking eastwards, is a view of 17nm (30 km) to Bolt Head and to the west is Dodman Point which is 23nm (36 km). Sometimes, on a very clear day, the ‘dishes’ at Goonhilly Earth Satellite Station on Lizard are just visible 44 nm (70 km) away.
A
Millennium Festival Lottery Grant in October 2001 enabled the purchase of
new tripod-mounted binoculars of high magnification; additionally, we have
several telescopes, binoculars, radar, a telephone and essential weather
instruments.
There are 3 VHF radios. One, always on Channel ‘00’; a second has dual watches on channels 16 and 67, and the third with tri-watch - where the channels are selected as required.
The radar, with a range of 36 miles and AIS overlay, was bought with a grant
from 'Awards for All' - Lottery Fund in 2007 and is used mainly for establishing
ranges and bearings. The AIS (Automatic Identification System) may provide
the name, MMSI number, size, course, speed etc of those vessels who carry
the equipment necessary to transmit the information.
