Cromer Lighthouse

There has been a lighthouse on the cliff top at Foulness, east of the town of Cromer since 1669. Before this time a light was shone from the top of Cromer parish church to act as a guide to passing shipping. Although this light was small it had always been useful, as had many similar ecclesiastical lights that were dotted around the coastline of Great Britain from medieval times.

of 1843.]] With the expected destruction of the old lighthouse, plans to build a new lighthouse had been put into place long before the loss of 1866. The present lighthouse was built half of a mile from the cliff edge (although it is now much closer), and came into operation in 1833. It is constructed of masonry and the tower is octagonal in shape and is 59 ft tall. When built, the tower was topped by a much larger lantern than at present; it contained a revolving three-sided array of 30 oil lamps (ten on each side, each mounted within a parabolic reflector), which consumed around 1,100 impgal of oil annually. The optical apparatus took three minutes to complete a full revolution, so the…