South Foreland Lighthouses facts for kids

The South Foreland Lighthouses are two old lighthouses from the Victorian era in Kent, England. They stand on the South Foreland cliffs near Dover. For hundreds of years, these lighthouses helped warn ships about the dangerous Goodwin Sands nearby.

The South Foreland Upper Lighthouse was built in 1843. It stopped working in 1988 and is now looked after by the National Trust. This lighthouse was special because it was the first in the world to use an electric light! It was also where Guglielmo Marconi did his amazing first experiments with wireless radio.

The South Foreland Lower Lighthouse was built at the same time, further down the cliff. It's still there today but stopped being used in 1904. It is now owned by a private person.

Lighthouses: A Long History

People have known for a long time that the Goodwin Sands are very dangerous for ships. The first record of a warning light here was when a person named Brother Nicholas de Legh hung a white light from the cliffs.

Early Lighthouses (1600s-1700s)

South Foreland as seen from the sea.

The very first two lighthouses at South Foreland were built in 1635. They were built by Sir John Meldrum. Back then, the light came from a simple open fire burning in a metal basket on the roof!

Later, in 1793, the Upper Lighthouse was rebuilt. It got a new oil lamp and special mirrors to make the light brighter. The Lower Lighthouse was also rebuilt two years later.

The 1800s: New Lights and Discoveries

South Foreland Lower Lighthouse in 2012

In 1832, a group called Corporation of Trinity House took over the lighthouses. They are still in charge of many lighthouses in England today.

Ten years later, the Upper Lighthouse was made taller. It got a powerful new oil lamp and a special Fresnel lens. This lens was designed to make the light much stronger and easier to see. The Lower Lighthouse was also completely rebuilt in 1846.

The First Electric Light

1875 illustration of the fixed optic newly installed in the two lighthouses.

In the 1850s, a famous scientist named Michael Faraday started looking into using electric light for lighthouses. In 1857, a man named Frederick Hale Holmes showed off his electric machine. This machine could create a powerful light using carbon arc lamps.

The first test of this electric light happened at the South Foreland Upper Lighthouse. This made it the first lighthouse in the world to use electric light! The test started in December 1858.

Map showing the power station positioned between the two lighthouses

In 1872, South Foreland got its own permanent electric lighting system. A power station was built between the two lighthouses. It had machines that made electricity using steam engines.

Testing Fog Signals

From 1865 to 1883, another scientist named John Tyndall was the science advisor for Trinity House.

In 1873, Professor Tyndall used South Foreland to test different types of fog signals. These signals help ships find their way in foggy weather. He tested steam whistles, air whistles, and even different types of guns! He found that a "siren" (a very loud horn) was the best for major lighthouses.

Tyndall also did tests in 1876 to compare different ways of making electricity for the lights. He found that a "dynamo" machine was better than the older "magneto" machines.

Later, in 1884, Professor Tyndall did more tests. He compared gas lamps, oil lamps, and electric lamps. He built three temporary lighthouses to try them out. He found that electric light was the most powerful in all weather conditions.

Marconi's Wireless Experiments

In 1898, the South Foreland Lighthouse became very important for a different reason. Guglielmo Marconi, who invented radio waves, used it for his experiments. On Christmas Eve that year, the lighthouse received the first ever message from a ship at sea!

In 1899, Marconi made the first international radio message. It was sent between the lighthouse and a place in France called Wimereux.

The 1900s: Modern Changes

The Lower Lighthouse around the time it was decommissioned (1904).

In 1904, the Lower Lighthouse stopped being used. The tower was sold, and the small house next to it was taken down.

At the same time, a new, rotating lens was put into the Upper Lighthouse. This lens made the light flash once every 2.5 seconds. It could be seen from about 26 nautical miles away!

The optic: installed in 1904 and modified in 1922 (previously used at St Catherine's Lighthouse, 1888-1904).

In 1922, the lighthouse was connected to the main electricity supply. This meant South Foreland Lighthouse was the first to use a regular incandescent lightbulb as its light source. The old electric generators were then removed.

With these changes, fewer people were needed to run the lighthouse. It went from having an engineer and four keepers to just one keeper! If a lightbulb broke, a special machine would automatically put a new one in place.

The lighthouse from the back, showing the keepers' dwellings.

In 1969, the lighthouse became fully automated. This meant no keepers were needed at all. The houses where the keepers lived were then sold.

By the mid-1980s, new navigation tools made the South Foreland light less important. So, it was officially stopped on September 30, 1988.

South Foreland Today

Approaching the lighthouse from the pathway from Dover.

Since 1989, the Upper Lighthouse has been owned by the National Trust. This means you can visit it! You have to walk to get there, either from Dover or St Margaret's village. There is also a cycle path nearby.

The lighthouse light had been off since 1988. But in June 2012, the light was turned on again to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The old clockwork machine that turns the lens was fixed in 2004. The light was turned on again on June 2, 2022, for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

See also

• North Foreland Lighthouse
• List of lighthouses in England