Lundy South Lighthouse

Lundy South Lighthouse stands at the south-east tip of Lundy, a granite island seven miles long in the Bristol Channel. The 1897 tower rises from rugged cliffs where seabirds nest and winter gales scour the slopes. Trinity House built it as one of a pair to replace the older 1819 light that often vanished in fog. The South Light was designed by Sir Thomas Matthews to be a modern rock station with its own fog signal and keeper accommodation. Its 3.5-ton lens assembly was the first in Britain to run on a mercury trough, giving a group-flash every twenty seconds. The lighthouse still guides ships through the hazardous waters where the 1828 wreck of La Jeune Emma claimed thirteen lives. Its fog signal once used diesel engines to power a triple-frequency siren that blasted two notes every thirty seconds. The tower’s focal plane sits 127 metres above sea level, letting the light reach more than thirty-five kilometres in clear weather. Trinity House keepers lived on site until 1976, when the light was automated and monitored from the North Lighthouse. The old engine room and fog horn building remain beside the tower, silent witnesses to a century of service. Visitors reach the South Lighthouse along a cliff-top path that drops steeply to the shore. The white-painted tower and its attached cottages overlook crashing waves and passing ferries. Inside the lantern room the modern optic still turns, sending its quick flashes across the Channel. The surrounding heathland is dotted with rare Lundy cabbage and nesting Manx shearwaters. From the lookout point below the lighthouse, the whole island stretches northwards to the North Light, while to the south the sea opens towards the English coast.