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Facts
A short list, each one tied to a source. The fuller wording is on the pages that use it.
- Eddystone, today
- The published character is Fl (2) 10s, and the published range of the light is 17 nautical miles.1 Trinity House publishes the height of the tower as 49 m, and the height of the light above mean high water as 41 m.1 The optic is listed as a 4th order (250 mm) rotating apparatus. Trinity House records the station as automated and electrified in 1982.1
- The first rock lighthouse in the open sea
- Trinity House describes the original tower, completed in 1698, as the first lighthouse to be built on a small rock in the open sea.1 Smeaton’s tower was completed and lit by 24 candles on 16 October 1759.1
- Bishop Rock
- The published character is Fl (2) 15s, the published range is 20 nautical miles, and the published intensity is 60,000 candela.2 Trinity House describes the rock ledge as 46 m long by 16 m wide.2
- Longships
- The published character is Fl (2) WR 10s — a group of two flashes every ten seconds, white or red according to the sector. The published range is 15 nautical miles, and the published intensity is 14,400 candela.3
- Fastnet, today and in 1969
- The Commissioners of Irish Lights publish Fastnet’s character as Fl W 5s, the range as 18 nautical miles, the height of the tower as 54 metres, and the height of the light above mean high water springs as 54 metres.4 Irish Lights records that the light was converted to electric on 10 May 1969, and then had a range of 28 nautical miles and a power of 2,500,000 candelas. Those are historic figures: the range published on the same page today is 18 nautical miles.4
- Hook Head
- Irish Lights publishes Hook Head’s character as Fl W 3s, also exhibited by day in poor visibility, with a range of 23 nautical miles, a tower height of 35 metres, and a height of light above mean high water springs of 46 metres.5 According to tradition, as Irish Lights tells it, Saint Dubhán established a beacon on Hook Point. The same page says that more recent authorities attribute Hook Tower to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, in 1245.5
- Bell Rock, 1911
- The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica places the Bell Rock 12 miles off the coast of Forfarshire, and says the tower is submerged to a depth of about 16 ft at high water of spring tides. It names Robert Stevenson as the constructor: work began in 1807, finished in 1810, and the light was first exhibited in 1811. The tower is given as 100 ft in height.6
- Cape Hatteras, 1999
- The U.S. National Park Service says that in 1999 the Cape Hatteras Light Station, which consists of seven historic structures, was successfully relocated 2,900 feet from the spot on which it had stood since 1870, because of the threat of shoreline erosion.7
- Trinity House, “Eddystone Lighthouse,” retrieved 15 November 2026
- Trinity House, “Bishop Rock Lighthouse,” retrieved 15 November 2026
- Trinity House, “Longships Lighthouse,” retrieved 15 November 2026
- Commissioners of Irish Lights, “Fastnet,” retrieved 15 November 2026
- Commissioners of Irish Lights, “Hook Head,” retrieved 15 November 2026
- Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), “Lighthouse” (public domain)
- U.S. National Park Service, “Moving the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse,” retrieved 15 November 2026