Lighthouses on Lundy
Open-knowledge reference entry
The isle of Lundy has three lighthouses: a pair of active lights built in 1897 and a preserved older lighthouse dating from 1819.
The old lighthouse (together with the adjacent keepers' accommodation) is a Grade II* listed building and the tower is a scheduled monument. An associated fog signal battery is also a scheduled monument containing several Grade II listed structures. The North and South lighthouses are also Grade II listed buildings.
The Old Light and its associated keepers' house are today kept open by the Landmark Trust. The North and South lighthouses are run and maintained by Trinity House, the general lighthouse authority for England and Wales; nowadays they are fully automated, and monitored via a telemetry link from Harwich.
Old light
Foundations for a lighthouse on Lundy were laid in 1787, but the first Lundy Lighthouse (now known as the Old Light) was not built until Trinity House obtained a 999-year lease in 1819. The 97-foot (30-metre) granite tower, on the summit of Chapel Hill, was designed by Daniel Asher Alexander, and built by Joseph Nelson at a cost of £36,000. Because the site, Beacon Hill, is 469 ft (143 m) above sea level, the highest base for a lighthouse in Britain, the light was often obscured by fog. Even on occasions when the island itself was free from fog, it was reported that 'the lighthouse stands so high that it is capped by fog'.
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