Godrevy Lighthouse

Godrevy Lighthouse stands on Godrevy Island, a small rocky outcrop about 300 metres off the Cornish coast at Godrevy Head in St Ives Bay. Built between 1858 and 1859, it guards the treacherous Stones reef, a hazard to ships for centuries. The tower is an octagonal white structure made of rubble stone, rising 26 metres above the island’s centre. Originally it had keepers’ cottages, but these were demolished after automation in 1939. The light once flashed every ten seconds from a large Fresnel lens powered by a descending weight. Today the tower serves as a daymark, while the navigational light now sits on a nearby steel platform. The lighthouse exists because of repeated shipwrecks, most tragically the SS Nile in 1854, which sank with around forty lives lost. Local calls for a light went unheeded until the disaster spurred action. Richard Short, a St Ives master mariner, wrote to the press demanding protection for mariners. A petition led by the Rev. J.W. Murray of Hayle persuaded Trinity House to approve the lighthouse in 1856. James Walker designed the tower and James Sutcliffe engineered its construction, completed in just over a year at a cost of £7,082. The first light used a Paris-made optic with 24 Fresnel panels and a fog bell that rang every five seconds. Visitors reach the island across a narrow causeway at low tide or by boat when the tide is in. The tower’s white walls and lantern contrast with the grey rocks and heather-covered island. The surrounding bay stretches wide under changing skies, with views towards the dunes of Gwithian Towans. The lighthouse inspired artists and writers, including Virginia Woolf, who visited in 1892 and later used the scene in her novel. The island’s visitors’ book once held her signature alongside that of William Holman Hunt. Even without climbing the tower, the sight of its beam flashing white and red every ten seconds remains a guiding mark for those sailing these waters.