Lundy Old Light

Lundy Old Light stands on the highest point of Lundy island, a granite tower 30 metres tall built in 1819 by Joseph Nelson to designs of Daniel Asher Alexander. The lighthouse sits 143 metres above sea level on Chapel Hill, giving it the highest base of any lighthouse in Britain. Its light was often lost in fog despite being so high, and the first major improvement came in 1842 when a new rotating optic from Cookson & Co. of Newcastle gave a white flash every two minutes. In 1857 Chance Brothers supplied a first-order catadioptric optic that reached over 55 kilometres in clear weather, lit by a four-wick oil burner. The tower’s early history includes a tragic grounding in 1828 when the La Jeune Emma struck Cefn Sidan, drowning thirteen people including Adeline Coquelin, niece of Joséphine de Beauharnais. After complaints about fog-obscured visibility, the lower light was moved in 1829 to a lantern room at the base of the tower. A fog signal battery with 18-pound guns was added on the west cliffs in 1861, later replaced by guncotton rockets in 1878. By 1889 the flash rate had been increased to once a minute, yet the light remained hard to see in poor conditions. Today the Old Light and its keepers’ house are kept open by the Landmark Trust. Visitors climb the granite tower to reach the lantern room and see the original optic and lamp. The surrounding area offers wide views across the Bristol Channel and along Lundy’s rugged coastline. The adjacent keepers’ accommodation shows how families lived while tending the light. The fog signal battery site on the cliffs still holds Grade II listed structures from the 19th century.