Trwyn Du Lighthouse

Anglesey.

We'd been to Anglesey a couple of times already and, to be brutally honest, hadn't been too impressed. But then we hadn't done the south-east coast...

This lighthouse stands between Dinmor Point near Penmon and Puffin Island at the north entrance of the Menai Strait.

It's 29m tall and was designed by James Walker and built in 1835-1838. It was his first sea-washed tower, and a prototype for his more ambitious tower on the Smalls. The Lighthouse has a stepped base designed to discourage the huge upsurge of waves that had afflicted earlier lighthouses on the site and reduce the force of the water at the bottom of the tower.

Austere vertical walls, instead of the usual graceful lines of other rock towers, are probably an economy measure. The tower has a crenellated stone parapet, in preference to iron railings on the gallery, and narrows in diameter above the half-way point. These are a features used by Walker in his other lighthouse designs.

The tower is distinguished by its original three black bands painted on a white background.

At present the Lighthouse has a 15,000 candela light that can be seen 12 NM (22 km) away and a 178 kilogram fog bell that sounds once every thirty seconds.

The tower has been unmanned since 1922 and is checked from Holyhead Control Centre.