The lighthouse that I had noticed on our way to Strumble Lighthouse, in Wales, September 2017, was in Fishguard Harbour which opened in 1906. The new development included a stone breakwater, extending from Pen Cw at the north end of the quay into Fishguard Bay. This breakwater was later lengthened to about 850m and a octagonal brick lighthouse, lower part black and upper part white, was constructed on the eastern end. The light is operational and flashes green, every 4.5 seconds.
Last year, 2016, we visited the Islands of Islay and Jura off the West Coast of Scotland, we went for the whisky festivals. This photo is taken from one of the distilleries, I was just taking random shots of the beautiful scenery, when in the distance I saw a white shape. Right in the centre of the photo you will see a tiny white lighthouse……now, as this will be the nearest that I will ever get to this lighthouse, it’s going in my lighthouse category. I made a rule in the beginning, that I did’nt have to visit, although it it’s nice to do so, but just photographing the lighthouses would be ok. I have zoomed in for a close up, it just gives you a general idea of the shape.
The lighthouse was built in 1960 and is an octagonal cylindrical tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. Not an old light, but what a wonderful location.
This Trinity Lighthouse stopped being operational in 1921, but luckily it still perches on the cliffs at Old Hunstanton on the North Norfolk Coast, and is now rented out as holiday lets. The present lighthouse was built in 1840 although there has been a lighthouse on the site since 1665. The first lighthouse was built of wood with an iron basket of burning coals as a light, but burnt down in 1777.
A second tower to replace it, was built in 1778, a second wooden lighthouse with oil lamps, and was one of the first lighthouses to use oil. Trinity House bought it in 1837, and rebuilt it as the current tower in 1840-1844. It was deactivated in 1921 and sold, the lantern house then being removed and an additional storey being added in its place.
The above postcard is dated about 1903 with the lantern still in place.
You can see from this photo that I found, how close the lighthouse is to the cliff edge.
My photos have been taken at all different dates during 2017, as we often go to Hunstanton for fish and chips, and I can never pass the lighthouse without taking a shot 🙂
This is the lighthouse of my childhood. As a small child I spent many happy hours on Southsea Beach, Portsmouth, we only lived a couple of minutes away, and most of my young memories include the beach in some form or another. It has changed a lot, many of the old attractions are no longer there, but the castle remains and so does the lighthouse. We paid a visit when we were attending my Fathers wedding, at the start of August 2017, we had a little spare time the evening before, so it was off to see the lighthouse for my collection of lighthouses. I must admit that I didn’t know anything about the lighthouse, only that it was there.
The Castle was first began in 1544, but the lighthouse wasn’t built until 1828 into the top of the western rampart of the castle, marking the east side of the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. It still serves as an aid to navigation guiding ships through the deep water channel into Portsmouth Harbour and is 34 feet high. When the lighthouse was first added to the castle, the Lighthouse Keeper and his family were housed in the castle, but later moved to accommodation outside of the castle.
A little history on the bandstand – The bandstand was constructed in 1998, by a local blacksmith.
We have been away for a few days, but while I sort out some photos of lighthouses plus a castle, that we visited, I will try and posts the ones before the recent visits. So a few weeks ago, the start of August 2017, while taking some photos of Southsea Castle Lighthouse, I looked across the Solent, the stretch of water that separates the UK mainland from the Isle of Wight and saw another lighthouse. Daylight was fading a little, but as we would not be around this neck of the woods for a while, I took some photos and hoped for the best. The lighthouse is on Spitbank Fort, one of four sea forts built in the Solent – with St Helens Fort, Horse Sand Fort and No Mans Land Fort. The Forts were initially designed to defend Portsmouth’s naval dockyard from French invasion, today they stand as a testament to Victorian engineering. Spitbank Fort is now a luxury hotel, if you fancy a stay, but I think that would be a bit extreme for me, just to take a photo, so a long range one will have to do.
A little history for you……..The story of Spitback Fort goes back to 1851 when Napoleon III became Emperor of France, sparking widespread fear in Britain that a French invasion was likely. Prime Minister, Lord Henry Palmerston, initially commissioned five forts to run along the Solent’s eastern approaches to defend the Royal Navy fleet at anchor in Portsmouth harbour. Four remain today as one was abandoned during construction. The granite and iron sea forts were built with cutting edge Victorian engineering technology. However they, along with other defensive forts along the south coast, were later dubbed “Palmerston’s Follies” as the French threat never materialised.
This was our second attempt to visit Cromer Lighthouse, August 2017, the first time…..we really had no idea where it was. I didn’t even know that Cromer had a lighthouse, so we had to look online to find it. We found that it is tucked away behind Cromer Golf Course, not really that far from the edge of the cliff, but not a sheer cliff, so hopefully it won’t topple over the edge yet.
The present lighthouse was built half a mile form the sea and came in to operation in 1833. It is constructed of masonry and the tower is octagonal in shape and is 59ft/18m tall. Electricity was installed in 1958 to power the light and the light flashes every five seconds, which can be seem for 23 nautical miles. The light is 275ft/84m above sea level. In June 1990 the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation. The lighthouse keepers cottages are now holiday apartments, although the tower is still owned by Trinity House.
I am well and truly hooked on lighthouses, it was just going to be the ones for my Stevenson’s Lighthouses in Scotland, but now its any. I have captured a few more recently, Cromer, Southsea and Hunstanton, which will all be posted shortly. I have even talked my dear husband, into visiting some, when we go to Devon next week-end and then in Wales after that. This lovely red and white one is Happisburgh Lighthouse on the coast of Norfolk, it’s one I want to take a closer look at. This photo was taken from the road, before I was really interested.
July 2016
