If you wish to get in contact with me over any aspect of this web site then please e-mail me at :-

Only insert the letters in the white box and substitute the + for the @ sign. Write the email address as one continous word without any gaps between the letters.

This action prevents web site trawlers from recognising an email address. They think it is an animated picture. So hopefully I will not get inundated with junk mail and other such things as spy ware; trojans and viruses.

About Me

I have always been aware of the traditional type of lighthouse ever since I was a boy. Although I was born during the war in New Malden, today described as Greater London, part of my formative years was in Cornwall in the 1950s where there is a particularly rugged coast line and a need for lighthouses. I knew what they did; why they were there; how frightening it must be to live in one during raging storms and how lonely it could be. I guessed also that it paid to get on with your fellow lighthouse keepers in cramped conditions. As for the stairs – well !

I had visited some in the days when visitors were welcome to operational lights, but it is only in the last few years, since I retired from a life in banking that I have shown a greater interest. Many lighthouses have become redundant and sold off as homes; and others de-manned as they became automated and with satellite global positioning I wonder if the need for them will diminish even further. What would happen if no one photographed and recorded the remaining ones for posterity ?

Well this was clearly a task for super man - but I would undertake it. However upon research I found that there were considerably more lighthouses than the dozen or so names that I had scrawled on a piece of paper. In fact there were many books already written on the subject; there were societies for enthusiasts; web sites on the internet; a CD ROM Lighthouse encyclopaedia and a thriving business in the sale of old postcards and lighthouse souvenirs.

In fact there was nothing left for superman to do; but the research that I had made so far and with the postcards already obtained, led me to realise that these lighthouses come in all different shapes and sizes, and what is more they are usually in places very difficult to get to. Some did not look like traditional lighthouses at all and others were in places so close to me but I had no idea that they were there.

I bought a very large atlas of the UK from a local charity shop and with the help of old Ordnance Survey Maps proceeded to mark on the map every lighthouse that was shown. The need to see if the light was still there became compulsive.

My wife was behind me all the way. The time spent kneeling on the floor, pouring over old maps with a magnifying glass to pinpoint their exact location meant that I did not follow her around the kitchen because I was bored. The dog enjoyed the fun as he thought it was a new game that involved him laying on his back on the open map with his legs in the air. The more research I did meant the less I did in the garden and odd jobs around the house got further in arrears. My geography is not particularly good and I would constantly ask where is ‘such and such’ place.

The upside was that we got out more. We would go and spend a few days looking at lighthouses. We all gained by the experience. I got to see and photograph the lighthouse; my wife enjoyed the long walks to and from them (I think she did); but we certainly enjoyed the wonderful coastline and sometimes beaches or fishing harbours that come as part of the package; and the dog enjoyed the change of routine.

Now we have completed our task. Fortunately I am only interested in UK main and secondary lighthouses (excluding Ireland – sorry, no offence intended). There has been a reward in all of this – and that is we both have a hobby that we can enjoy together. It has taken us to parts of the country that not only did we not know existed, or under normal circumstances would not wish to visit; but they have turned out to be beautiful areas; some nature reserves and others of outstanding natural beauty. My geography has improved too !

The lighthouses themselves have been so majestic in their isolation that they deserve to have a human eye admire them for a change. Some were constructed of stone; some brick; some cast iron; others wooden. Some were working lights; some were disused but restored and others were derelict and soon nature would reclaim back her land.

And now that we have visited all those that can be easily accessed, will we go back again to see them at sunset and then at night - I do not know; old age has a habit of creeping up on you when you least expect it.