Sun Light House

Sun Light House, originally uploaded by Rusty Marvin (experimenting).

LR-7426 - Probably one of the reasons the journey home took a little bit longer than expected!

There have been five lighthouses at Dungeness. At first only a beacon was used to give warning to sailors, but this gave way to a proper lighthouse during the reign of James I in 1615. As the sea retreated, this had to be replaced in 1635 by a new lighthouse nearer to the water’s edge known as Lamplough's Tower.
As more shingle was thrown up, a new and more up-to-date lighthouse was built near the sea in 1792 by Samuel Wyatt. This lighthouse was about 35 m (115 ft) high and of the same design as the third Eddystone Lighthouse. From the mid-nineteenth century, it was painted black with a white band to make it more visible in daylight; similar colours have featured on the subsequent lighthouses here. Though this lighthouse was demolished in 1904, the lighthouse keepers' accommodation built in a circular form around the base of the tower remain in existence.
In 1901 construction commenced on the fourth lighthouse, known as the High Light Tower. It was first lit on 31 March 1904 and still stands today, though no longer in use as a lighthouse but open as a visitor attraction. It is a circular brick structure, 41 m (135 ft) high and 11 m (36 ft) in diameter at ground level. Its 169 steps give visitors a bird’s eye view of the shingle beach.
As the sea receded further, and following the construction of the nuclear power station which obscured the light of the 1904 lighthouse, it proved necessary to build a fifth lighthouse. This was brought into operation on 20 November 1961 and is constructed of precast concrete rings. Its colour of black and white bands is impregnated into the concrete. It remains in use today, monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations and Planning Centre at Harwich, Essex.[1]
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