This lighthouse on the outskirts of East London (South Africa) is currently closed to public access due to severe damage and vandalism to the windows. A member of the Port Authority agreed to take us in for a bit of a nosey. Nice bloke too.
A bit of history.....
Hood Point Lighthouse was first lit on June 4 1895; built by British architects and engineers from Chance Brothers and Trinity House. since then has undergone many major upgrades to it's lighting apparatus, foghorn (Removed), control system, and monitoring. It is one of 15 lighthouses in South Africa to still use lightkeepers. The lighthouse turned 100 in 1995. The station is open for arranged tours; but these have been indefinitely stopped due to wear and tear on the lantern room windows; and chavs shooting at them with pellet guns. Repairs are currently getting underway.
We got in contact with someone within the port authority; who agreed to let us in. I'd recommend going through all the trouble to gain access; as there is a fair amount of stuff to see. It's difficult; but worth it.
On with the pics... reduced them to 28DL standards.
Backup diesel in case of power failure.
This is the heart of the lighthouse; currently not viewable to the public.
And finally; a balcony shot to finish it all off.
Thanks for looking. I hope that this lighthouse reopens to public access soon. PS: I didn't take any photos of the damaged windows because I wasn't too fond of the cracks in them.
A bit of history.....
Hood Point Lighthouse was first lit on June 4 1895; built by British architects and engineers from Chance Brothers and Trinity House. since then has undergone many major upgrades to it's lighting apparatus, foghorn (Removed), control system, and monitoring. It is one of 15 lighthouses in South Africa to still use lightkeepers. The lighthouse turned 100 in 1995. The station is open for arranged tours; but these have been indefinitely stopped due to wear and tear on the lantern room windows; and chavs shooting at them with pellet guns. Repairs are currently getting underway.
We got in contact with someone within the port authority; who agreed to let us in. I'd recommend going through all the trouble to gain access; as there is a fair amount of stuff to see. It's difficult; but worth it.
On with the pics... reduced them to 28DL standards.
Backup diesel in case of power failure.
This is the heart of the lighthouse; currently not viewable to the public.
And finally; a balcony shot to finish it all off.
Thanks for looking. I hope that this lighthouse reopens to public access soon. PS: I didn't take any photos of the damaged windows because I wasn't too fond of the cracks in them.
Last edited:
