Some time has passed since I featured a UK lighthouse, so I'm headed back to jolly old England. This week's lighthouse is the Old Dungeness Light, which is very prominent and large and tall, but had to be replaced with a newer light when a nuclear power plant was built nearby, partly obscuring where the light was shining. You can see it in one of the pictures here. That's a shame, because according to the Lighthouse Directory, it has a 1st-order Fresnel lens (which visitors can still see at the top). It was also repainted all black; I'll grab a lot of text from the Directory to explain.
It also has a Web site: The Old Lighthouse, Dungeness, Kent Some neat trivia there: it's a "Historic Grade 11 Building", and it took over three million bricks to make it. That's a lot of bricks.
So where is it? It's pretty easy to find. Just drive south down the coast from Dover and Folkestone.
The text from the Directory:
"1904. Inactive since 1961. 43.5 m (143 ft) round brick tower with lantern and gallery.
Tower painted black with white trim; lantern and gallery painted white. Original 1st order Fresnel lens.
Circular 2-story Coast Guard quarters and detached 1-story keeper's house.
Originally painted with a white horizontal band, as seen in Huelse's postcard view, the tower
was repainted all black to prevent confusion with its replacement. Privately owned by the Stanners
family, it became a very popular tourist attraction. In 2005 the family offered the lighthouse for
sale; no price was specified. Probably it was sold, because it appears to be under new management."
And on to the pictures.
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