Hurst Point Lighthouse

Hurst Point Lighthouse stands at Hurst Point in Hampshire, guiding ships through the western approaches to the Solent. It occupies a narrow spit of land guarded by Hurst Castle, a 16th-century fort built by Henry VIII. The site is reached only on foot along a mile-long shingle path or by small boat from Keyhaven. Salt winds and shifting sands shape the landscape around the tower. The lighthouse shares the point with two older, now unused towers. A small museum in the castle explains the site’s maritime history. The lighthouse’s importance is shown by its long line of keepers and engineers. Richard Jupp designed the first tower in 1786, while Daniel Alexander created the striking elliptical High Lighthouse in 1812. James Douglass built the present 26-metre granite tower in 1867, reusing old Fresnel lenses from St Catherine’s and Bishop’s Rock. Automation arrived in 1923 with acetylene lamps, later replaced by electric power in 1997. In 2020 the main lamp became an LED unit for greater reliability. Visitors find the working High Lighthouse beside the castle’s curtain wall. The lantern still holds the original dioptric array and its red sector marking the Solent Banks hazard. Outside, the 1866 and 1911 Low Lights stand grey-painted along the shingle, their lanterns preserved. The castle’s casemates shelter a small lighthouse museum run by the Association of Lighthouse Keepers. The decommissioned acetylene producer plant remains in place, and its burner array is displayed inside. Views stretch across the Solent to the Isle of Wight and along the Needles channel.