Needles Lighthouse was built in 1859 under the leadership of a private organisation, "Trinity House", which operated under the Royal Charter of the United Kingdom. The project is based on the ideas of the famous Scottish civil engineer James Walker. Set in the western approaches to the Isle of Wight, the Needles form a narrow chalky peninsula which rises from jagged rocks to 120m cliffs. These rocks have always been a hazard to ships making their way up the Solent to Portsmouth and Southampton Water.
For the construction of a circular granite tower over thirty-three feet high, it took twenty thousand pounds. The white-red signal structure is on the Needles rocks (hence its name), the Isle of Wight, located five kilometres from the English county of Hampshire. Previously, there were two tall lighthouse lights which were periodically lost in a thick fog. A modern version of the lighthouse is clearly visible to ships emerging from the Solent towards Portsmouth and Southampton.
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In 1987, a helipad was added to the top of the lighthouse, and it became fully automated when the last keepers left on 8 December 1994. Before automation, the lighthouse was staffed by a three-man crew who operated a 24-hour watch, serving one month on and one month off while living in rudimentary conditions three levels below the light.
Image credit: Tony Margiocchi (Snapperz)
Due to the condition of the chalk strata on which the lighthouse was built, in April 2010 a £500,000 underpinning project was announced, designed to stop the lighthouse from falling into the sea. Over a 12-week period from early June, civil marine contractors Nuttall John Martin were due to dig a trench around the base of the lighthouse, install a ring of stabilising posts, and infill it with concrete.
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Image credit: Robert Linsdell
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Image credit: Sanjib Mitra
Image credit: SouthEastern Star ★
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| The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, England, close to Alum Bay. The Needles lighthouse stands at the end of the formation. Built in 1859, it has been automated since 1994. |
Image credit: Paul Chambers
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| "The Needles" are chalk stacks jutting out of the sea at Alum Bay on the western end of the Isle of Wight, England. There's a gap between these chalk stacks where a narrow pillar or chalk used to stand until it was destroyed in a storm in 1764. This narrow pillar gave the site its name, "The Needles." |
Image credit: Sameer Gharat
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| The Needles Lighthouse, Isle of Wight, UK. |
Image credit: Philip Bird
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