Undan Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the summit of the uninhabited
islet
An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...
of
Undan Island
Undan Island ("Pelican Island", ms, Pulau Undan) is a group of two uninhabited islets located off the coast of Malacca in Malaysia. The larger islet houses a lighthouse built in 1880 by the British and a communication tower made of concrete, bot ...
, located off the coast of mainland
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
in
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
The lighthouse was engineered and constructed by the
Chance Brothers and Company
Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology.
The Chance fam ...
from Birmingham in 1879 and completed in 1880, as a beacon for ships travelling along the
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...
.
It is
octagon
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...
al and cylindrical in shape, housing the lantern and a gallery and is adjoined to a single storey keeper's house; both structures were constructed of
masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
.
A more recent concrete communications tower, roughly three times the height of the original lighthouse, is cylindrical and stark in design, and situated directly beside the lighthouse.
See also
*
List of lighthouses in Malaysia
Malaysia is a country largely surrounded by large bodies of water, most notably by the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, that have been used extensively for maritime transport as early as the 15th century. Numerous lighthouses were erec ...
*
Cape Rachado Lighthouse
The Cape Rachado Lighthouse ( ms, Rumah Api Tanjung Tuan) is a lighthouse located in Cape Rachado, also known as Tanjung Tuan in Malay, in Alor Gajah District, Malacca, Malaysia. The lighthouse is believed to be the oldest in the country, its ...
*
Undan Island
Undan Island ("Pelican Island", ms, Pulau Undan) is a group of two uninhabited islets located off the coast of Malacca in Malaysia. The larger islet houses a lighthouse built in 1880 by the British and a communication tower made of concrete, bot ...
References
Buildings and structures in Malacca
Lighthouses completed in 1880
Lighthouses in Malaysia
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