The scheme was designed and specified by Kieran Sturrock of locally based Enlightened Lighting, who also managed and installed the project for the vicar, the Reverend Jonathan Lloyd.
The old tower had previously been lit somewhat prosaically with white floodlights, so when the 18-month tower restoration scheme got underway, Lloyd took the radical step of applying to Bath & North East Somerset City Council to fund a new and contemporary lighting design.
The picturesque church was designed and built by local architect James Wilson in 1845, and the tower - always a controversial structural feature - was completed in 1847. St Stephen's is located on Lansdown Hill, one of the highest points around Bath, with a commanding view of the city and the surrounding countryside.
Enlightened were recommended for the job by a contact at Bath Abbey where they frequently supply events and functions with lighting. Sturrock jumped at the chance to illuminate the tower, "It's a fabulous building, and the idea was to introduce a simple and stylish lighting design to emphasise the architectural detail of the structure rather than something that was a blanket wash."
At the top of the tower are eight ArcSource Outdoor 12s, attached to the stone walls and arranged in pairs, cross lighting the four pinnacles. Another 8 ArcSource Outdoor 12s illuminate the second set of pinnacles further down.
Two sets of four ArcSource 12s with 6-degree lenses are used for silhouetting the flying buttresses, hidden from view and fixed to the bottom of the buttresses.
There are four ArcLine Optic 36s washing up the top third of the tower, bathing the lancets in a gentle glow, and then 8 ArcSource Outdoor 18s backlighting the balustrades two thirds of the way up the tower.
On the front fascia of the tower, facing down the hill, three empty arch-shaped niches are lit up with six ArcSource 3s.
The Anolis drivers are all installed on level one of the belfry, and the lighting is controlled - via a DMX Creator - from the Vicar's PC in the basement, linked to an astronomical clock which fires them up at dusk and shuts the installation down at 1 am. The standard everyday colour is a warm white with a hint of gold, but he also has the capacity to colour the tower for special occasions. For Remembrance Sunday it went blood red, and for the Season of Advent, a rich ecclesiastical purple.
(Jim Evans)
