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Burnham-On-Sea
Lighthouses
Find out about the town's historic lighthouses
Burnham-On-Sea
in Somerset has had three lighthouses over the years - of very different
shapes - which have played a vital role in keeping sea-going vessels
safe.
 Burnham
Old ('Round Tower')
Inactive since 1832, this 2-story masonry tower with castellated
top is located on The Esplanade in Burnham-On-Sea.
Originally 4 stories tall, the tower was reduced in height after being
replaced as a lighthouse, so that it would not be confused with the
Burnham High Light (see below).
Built privately by the local curate,
this lighthouse
has always been known locally as the Round Tower.
This
old lighthouse has a curious history. In around 1750 an old fisherman
and his wife lived in a cottage close to the church. One stormy night,
anxious about her husband not returning home after dark, the wife put
a candle in the window of the cottage to help him find his way home.
It saved his life and the grateful sailors decided to pay her small
sums of money from that time on to keep a candle burning in order to
safely guide them on their homeward journeys.
Later, the sexton of the church gave the fisherman's wife five pounds
for the rights to place a light on the church tower - it being higher
and therefore more effective. He, in turn, was given twenty pounds by
the Reverend David Davies, Curate of Burnham, who built the structure
now known as the Round Tower.
 Pillar
Lighthouse
The
pillar lighthouse tower had a paraffin fired light and was a hundred
feet in height. It quickly became a tourist attraction with many visitors
climbing the spiral staircase to view the coasts of South Wales and
North Devon.
It is now a private house on the Berrow Road and
has been inactive since 1993.
Measuring 30 m (99 ft) tall, it is a brick tower with a conical roof
and a half gallery on the front which incorporated the keeper's quarters.
It is located on Berrow Road, just north of Stodden's Road, about 500m
east of the low light in Burnham-on-Sea and now provides holiday accommodation
to tourists.
 The
lighthouse on legs
After the Pillar Lighthouse building was completed it was found that
too low a vantage point had been selected to take into account the massive
rise and fall of the tides, so a lighthouse on legs (pictured right
in 1912) was built in 1832 to complement the tower.
The
Low Lighthouse lights were inactive between 1969 and 1993 and were re-established
on 31 December 1993. The High Lighthouse lights were permanently discontinued
at the same time.
The lighthouse has a focal plane of 7m and provides a white flash every
7.5s plus a directional light (white, red, or green depending on direction)
at a focal plane of 4m. The light is shown through a window at the front.
The lighthouse is painted white with a single vertical red stripe on
its front face and is 9m tall with a conical roof and mounted on 9 timber
pilings.
It remains an active aid to navigation and is visited by many thousands
of walkers every year.
See
more photos of Burnham On Sea lighthouses in our gallery.
More
Burnham history...
Other Burnham buildings
Burnham Pier
The Burnham Lifeboat
Burnham
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St Andrew's Church
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