South Foreland lighthouse
South Foreland Lighthouse from the front
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| Location |
South Foreland Dover Kent England |
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| Coordinates | 51°08′25″N 1°22′16″E / 51.14040°N 1.37110°ECoordinates: 51°08′25″N 1°22′16″E / 51.14040°N 1.37110°E |
| Year first constructed | 1793 (first) |
| Year first lit | 1843 (current) |
| Deactivated | 1988 |
| Construction | stone tower |
| Tower shape | octagonal prism tower with balcony and lantern attached to keeper's house |
| Markings / pattern | white tower and lantern |
| Height | 21 metres (69 ft) |
| Original lens | 1st order Fresnel lens |
| ARLHS number | ENG-087 |
| Heritage | National Trust owned |
South Foreland Lighthouse is a Victorian lighthouse on the South Foreland in St. Margaret's Bay, Dover, Kent, England, used to warn ships approaching the nearby Goodwin Sands. It went out of service in 1988 and is currently owned by the National Trust. Another lighthouse had previously stood on the site since at least 1730 and during most of this time it was manned by the Knott family of lighthouse keepers.
South Foreland was the first lighthouse to use an electric light. This was in 1859. By 1875 the lighthouse was using carbon arc lamps powered by a steam-driven magneto.
It was used by Guglielmo Marconi during his work on radio waves, receiving the first ship-to-shore message from the East Goodwin lightship. The system was used over the following winter to avert several shipwrecks. In 1899, the first international transmission was made between the lighthouse and Wimereux in France.
The lighthouse from the back
Approaching the lighthouse from the pathway from Devon
South Foreland Lighthouse at a distance from the English Channel
Originally, there was another lighthouse further down towards the cliff edge to give a bearing on the leading lights principle when a ship was at the point where it could safely turn left into the Downs behind the sands or right to go safely around the Sands. They were both built in the 1840s. However, the Sands shifted over the following years until this bearing became dangerously inaccurate and so the lower light was taken out of service in 1910. It still survives as part of a private garden but is under threat from cliff erosion.
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Wikipedia