Name and Location

Hurst Point Lighthouse is located at the eastern end of the Hurst Spit shingle bank, overlooking the western approaches to the Solent, near Milford-on-Sea and Keyhaven in Hampshire, England, UK. The official coordinates are 50°42′28.6″ N, 1°33′01.2″ W (50.7079511, -1.5503313).

Construction and History

Hurst Point Lighthouse was built between 1865-1867 by Sir James Nicholas Douglass for Trinity House. The construction era was mid-Victorian maritime expansion. The lighthouse is a slender cylindrical tower made of load-bearing brick and masonry faced with white paint, with a cast-iron lantern and gallery with wrought-iron balustrade.

Architecture and Materials

The lighthouse stands 16 meters tall above its base and has a focal height of 23 meters above mean high water. The tower is tapered from a diameter of 2 meters at the base to 1.5 meters at the top. The original first-order Fresnel lens was replaced with modern sealed-beam units.

Light and Navigation

The lighthouse emits various lights for navigation, including white (13 nautical miles), red sector (11 nautical miles), green directional beam up to 17 nautical miles, white directional beam up to 21 nautical miles, and red directional beam up to 18 nautical miles. The light characteristics are a group flashing every 15 seconds.

Accessibility and Visiting

Visitors can access the lighthouse grounds via a 1¾-mile shingle walk from Milford-Keyhaven road at low tide or by seasonal passenger ferry from Keyhaven. The tower is closed to public access due to unsafe spiral stairs, but an external viewing platform offers good vantage points.

Notable Views and Landscape

Anecdotes and Folklore

Local lore tells of a 19th-century keeper's wife who ferried wounded sailors across the spit after a storm wreck off the Needles. Ghostly lantern glows and phantom footsteps on storm nights have been reported by nearby Hurst Castle guides, attributed to old keepers' souls.

Technical and Operational Details

The lighthouse is managed by Trinity House and was commissioned fully automatic in 1995. It is monitored and controlled remotely from Trinity House Operations Centre, Harwich. The power source is mains electricity with battery backup (formerly oil-fired incandescent lamp). There is no dedicated radar, but AIS base-station coverage is provided by the Solent Port Services network.

Further Information

The lighthouse is listed as Grade II since 1951 and forms part of a protected coastal environment and Site of Special Scientific Interest for shingle flora and fauna.