Bamburgh Lighthouse

Bamburgh Lighthouse stands on Black Rocks Point near the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland. It was built in 1910 by Trinity House to guide ships along the coast and around the Farne Islands. The lighthouse is the most northerly land-based one in England. Originally it had a 11-metre-high steel tower with an acetylene plant in a white building beside it. The lamp used a fixed third-order lens showing two eclipses every fifteen seconds. The lighthouse was modernised in 1975 when the steel tower was removed. A new lantern and lens were placed on the old acetylene building. In the 1980s mains electricity replaced the diesel generators, though they remain as back-up. Routine upkeep is still handled by a local attendant. Monitoring is now done from Trinity House’s centre in Harwich. Visitors find the lighthouse set within a secure compound beside the white building that once housed the acetylene plant. The old steel tower’s footprint remains visible on the ground. The current lantern sits on top of the white structure, which still serves as the lighthouse’s working base. Views stretch across the Northumberland coast and towards the Farne Islands. The site is quiet, with the sea and sky dominating the scene.