So, I was thinking about what to do for the Lighthouse of the Week this week, and couldn't decide on any place to search, so I initially thought about looking around South Korea again, because South Korea has many unique lighthouses. What I actually thought was that South Korea has many weird lighthouses. Inspired, I searched for weird lighthouses. There are quite a few of them, so I believe I will feature some of what was found over the next few weeks.
The first of this series is the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse off of Eastbourne, UK. My initial fact-finding indicated that this lighthouse is in the process of being decommissioned (it has reached the end of its design lifetime). However, the Lighthouse Directory reports that as of May 2021, it's still active.
The lighthouse was built on the Royal Sovereign Shoal, which was marked by a lightship (picture below) before the structure was built. The lighthouse stands on a square single-support pedestal that is a helipad (also illustrated below).
Here is where it is located (zoomed out to find the UK coast). So it's offshore of Eastbourne, Dungeness, and the White Cliffs.
The remarkable Lighthouse Directory provides this information:
"1971 (lightship station established 1875). Active; focal plane 28 m (93 ft); white flash every 20 s. Octagonal tower with lantern mounted at one corner of a rectangular 1-story keeper's quarters, all supported by a huge cylindrical concrete column. The roof of the keeper's quarters is a helipad. Tower painted white with a single red horizontal band; keeper's quarters painted white. ... The station was automated in 1994. In 2019 Trinity House announced that the light had reached its design lifetime and would be removed. It was still in service in May 2021. Located in the English Channel about 9 km (5.5 mi) east southeast of Eastbourne."I think that's quite remarkable -- and a little weird. See what you think. (It would have been cool to see what the keeper's quarters look like on the inside.)
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| Paper model you can order and build |
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| Bathymetry map as part of decommissioning prep |
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| The lightship |
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