Pakefield Lighthouse
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Pakefield Lighthouse is a decommissioned 19th century
lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...
which was built near
Pakefield Pakefield is a suburb of the town of Lowestoft in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around south of the centre of the town. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1774. Pakefield has boundaries with Carlton Colville and ...
a suburb of
Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...
in
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
. The lighthouse tower has been used for a variety of maritime, civilian and military roles, and is currently used as a
Coastwatch The Australian Coastal Surveillance Organisation, also known as Coastwatch, was an operational division of the Australian Customs Service and the de facto Australian coast guard service. The former Coastwatch Division is now part of the Austra ...
lookout post.


Operational history


Pakefield lighthouse 1832-1864

Completed in 1832 to a design by the architect Richard Suter, it was commissioned by
Trinity House "Three In One" , formation = , founding_location = Deptford, London, England , status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity , purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons , he ...
to enable a safe passage to be made through Pakefield Gatway (a channel between two shifting sandbanks providing a way into Lowestoft harbour). The high white tower and keeper's accommodation were built within the estate of Pakefield Hall, on low cliffs overlooking the sea at a cost of £821 (). The light was powered by two
argand lamp The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequent ...
s; it originally consisted of a constant white light that could be seen for nine
nautical miles A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today t ...
. In 1835 the colour was changed to red, as some ships had confused the light with those shining from the windows of clifftop houses in nearby
Kessingland Kessingland is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around south of Lowestoft on the east coast of the United Kingdom. It is of interest to archaeologists as Palaeolithic and Ne ...
.


Kessingland light 1864-1886

By the time that land negotiations regarding the lighthouse and access road had been completed in 1850, the channel had moved to the south. The lighthouse continued in use (with charts showing an increased angle of approach through the Gatway) until 1864 when Pakefield lighthouse was decommissioned and a new red
sector light A sector light is a man-made pilotage and position fixing aid that consists of strictly delineated horizontal angle light beams to guide water-borne traffic through a safe channel at night in reasonable visibility. Sector lights are most often u ...
was established at Kessingland, to the south.


Pakefield light 1886-1906

In 1886, the sandbanks again having shifted, the sector light was moved back to Pakefield, but this time to a location north of the old lighthouse (which remained disused). The fixed red light was now displayed from a hut on the cliff, 'about in a southerly direction from All Saints' Church'. The following year the angle of the light was altered, the sands again having shifted. In 1905 it was reported that 'considerable alterations have taken place in the depths in Pakefield Gat', shoaling having significantly reduced the depth of water in the former channel. On 1 January 1907 the sector light at Pakefield was discontinued.London Gazette, Issue 27949, Page 6247, 14 September 1906.
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Later history

Following its closure in 1864, Pakefield lighthouse remained abandoned for a number of decades until it was subsequently sold to the owners of the Hall in the 1920s, the grounds of which were being used as a campsite; it would eventually become a
Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Since 2011, it has been owned by Britannia Hotels. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment ...
holiday camp. In 1938, prior to the Second World War, the tower became an observation post for the Royal Observer Corps, who were checking for any possible seaborne or air invasion force, with both the roof and lantern being removed to improve visibility. The tower continued to be used throughout the war, with
Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...
personnel being stationed at the site. The surrounding holiday campsite was requisitioned and became a transit camp. It was strafed by the Luftwaffe during an air-raid on Lowestoft in 1943, and in the following year a V-1 doodlebug with a defective
gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...
was spotted travelling towards the lighthouse, until it crashed into the sea at the base of the cliffs nearby. After the war, the tower was eventually purchased by Pontins, and in the 1960s it was used by the camp's official photographers as a dark room. In the early 70’s the adjoining keepers accommodation was used as accommodation for the McRoberts family. Bert McRoberts being the bassist with The Harry Bence Orchestra who were the resident band at Pontins for a number of seasons.


Current use

The lighthouse tower was renovated in 2000, by voluntary workers from the local Pakefield Coastwatch group, and it is now used by the group as a coastal reconnaissance station.


See also

*
List of lighthouses in England This is a list of lighthouses in England. It includes lighthouses which are no longer in use as a light but are still standing. It also includes some of the harbour and pier-head lights around the country. Details of several lighthouses and li ...


References


External links


Pakefield Coastwatch website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakefield Lighthouse Lighthouses in Suffolk Lowestoft Lighthouses completed in 1832