Holyhead Breakwater Lighthouse

Holyhead Breakwater Lighthouse

The Lighthouse on Holyhead Breakwater
Wales
Location	Holyhead Anglesey Gwynedd Wales United Kingdom
Coordinates	53°19′51″N 4°37′09″W / 53.330898°N 4.619268°W / 53.330898; -4.619268Coordinates: 53°19′51″N 4°37′09″W / 53.330898°N 4.619268°W / 53.330898; -4.619268
Year first constructed	1873
Automated	1961
Construction	limestone
Tower shape	square tower
Markings / pattern	white tower with a broad black band in the upper part, white lantern
Height	19 metres (62 ft)
Focal height	21 metres (69 ft)
Light source	main power
Range	14 nautical miles (26 km; 16 mi)
Characteristic	Fl (3) G 10s.
Admiralty number	A5174
NGA number	5476
ARLHS number	WAL-011
Managing agent	Stena Lines
Heritage	Grade II listed building
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Stena Lines

The Holyhead Breakwater Lighthouse stands on the Holyhead Breakwater outside the Welsh port of Holyhead, Anglesey.

The structure, which was completed in 1873, was most likely designed by Victorian civil engineer, John Hawkshaw, after he took control of Holyhead harbour works in 1857. The lighthouse was the last major building completed on the breakwater.

The three-storey black and white tower, unlike many contemporary lighthouses, is square. It measures 22.25 feet (6.78 m) on each side, is 63 feet (19 m) high and rests 70 feet (21 m) above the high-water mark. It has chamfered angles and a stepped plinth set on an oval platform on the breakwater. A square design was chosen because it made the living quarters more comfortable. Much of the original living accommodation remains intact inside.

The tower's external features include a roll-moulded string-course projecting above the first floor level. There is also a moulded cornice which supports a walkway around a circular glassed-housed light. The tower is surmounted by a weathervane and finial. The enclosed fresnel lens creates a light with a range of 14 mi (12 nmi; 23 km). The lighthouse is considered architecturally important because it forms part of the ambitious Victorian engineering works to create "harbours of refuge" throughout Great Britain.

In the 19th century, packet ships approaching Holyhead in the fog would be warned by a bell operated from the lighthouse. In the late 1870s this was supplemented with rockets which would complement the gun fired from the fog warning station on North Stack, Anglesey.

The lighthouse was manned until November 1961 when it was automated. Among the last keepers in the 1950s were Arthur Burgess and David John Williams. The latter later became a speaker for Trinity House giving talks on the service. Like most other lights in Gwynedd, it is now operated from Trinity House's Holyhead Control Centre. Today the upkeep of the lighthouse is the responsibility of Holyhead port authority, which is operated by Stena Line.