Caldey Lighthouse

Caldey Lighthouse stands on the southern tip of Caldey Island, five kilometres offshore from Pembrokeshire. The small limestone island is home to a Cistercian monastery. The lighthouse itself is a squat, round tower built of brick-lined limestone. Its walls are nearly a metre thick at the base and taper to three-quarters of a metre at the top. The light sits sixty-four metres above the high-water mark and can be seen for twenty-four kilometres. Trinity House commissioned the tower in 1827 and Joseph Nelson built it for £4,460. The light first shone in 1829 to guide ships carrying limestone and coal along the Welsh coast. Later it helped long-distance traffic distinguish the Bristol Channel from the English Channel. In 1929 the lighthouse became automatic, ending the era of gas lighting. Electricity arrived in 1997, completing the modernisation. Visitors approach along the enclosed gardens that lie north of the keepers’ cottages. The two-storey cottages flank the tower, linked by a single-storey corridor that forms a shallow U-shape. Their hipped roofs and octagonal chimneys date from the 1860s. Inside, the former oil store survives as a listed structure. From the base of the tower the view stretches across the island’s shoreline and the wide sea beyond.