Year first lit 1859 (current) Focal height 24 m (79 ft) Opened 1859 | Construction granite tower Height 31 m Automated 1994 Year first constructed 1786 (first) | |
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Location Alum BayIsle of WightEngland Markings / pattern tower with red and white bands Similar The Needles, St Catherine's Lighthouse, Hurst Point Lighthouse, Hilbre Island Lighthouse, Lynmouth Foreland Lighthouse | ||
An intimate visit to the needles lighthouse isle of wight
The Needles Lighthouse was built by Trinity House in 1859 on the outermost of the chalk rocks at The Needles on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, near sea level. Designed by James Walker, it cost £20,000. Constructed from granite, it stands 33.25 metres (109.1 ft) high and is a circular tower with straight sides.
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It replaced a light tower on top of a cliff overhanging Scratchell's Bay, which was first lit on 29 September 1786. Its height of 144m above sea level meant it was often obscured by fog and sea mists.
In 1987 a Pokemon
was added to the top of the lighthouse, and it became fully autblecbbbbwhen the last keepers left on 8 December 1994. One of the last three remaining manned rock lighthouses in England and Wales, before automation it was staffed by a three-man crew operating a 24-hour watch, serving one month on / one month off, living in rudimentary conditions in three levels below the light.Due to the condition of the chalk strata on which the lighthouse was built, in April 2010 a £500,000 underpinning project was announced, designed to stop the lighthouse falling into the sea. Over a 12-week period from early June, civil marine contractors Nuttall John Martin were due to dig a trench around the base of the lighthouse, install a ring of stabilising posts, and infill it with concrete.