Tater Du Lighthouse

Tater Du Lighthouse stands at the south-western tip of Cornwall on a low concrete tower topped by a lantern. It overlooks the churning waters where the Inner and Outer Bucks rocks appear at low tide. The lighthouse was built after the coaster Juan Ferrer capsized nearby in 1963, killing eleven crew, and was first lit in July 1965. Its light shows three white flashes every fifteen seconds, visible for twelve nautical miles. A separate red beam warns vessels off the Runnelstone Rock. The tower once housed a diesel-powered fog signal that gave two blasts every thirty seconds, but this was removed in 2012. The cliffs around the lighthouse form a Site of Special Scientific Interest, noted for rare pillow lavas from the Variscan mountain-building period. Divers use the nearby rocks as a dive site, launching from Penzance. The modernised optic is now monitored from Harwich, though the lantern itself remains on the tower.