Anvil Point

Photo with kind permission of Trinity House.

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POSITION 50� 35'.48 N 01� 57'.51 W
Location: Durlston Head near Swanage, Dorset coast
No. On Admiralty List of Lights: 0496
Present Tower Built: 1881
Tower Composition: Purbeck Stone
Height of Tower: 21 ft 3 ins (6.48 m)
Designer: James Nicholas Douglass
Focal Height of Light: 149 ft (45.4 m ) above mean high water
First Lit: 18th October 1881
Light Characteristic: white flash every 10 seconds
Visible Range on clear night: nominal 24 nautical miles
Radar Beacon: Morse 'AL' on vessel's radar display
Automated: 31st May 1991

History:
Anvil Point Lighthouse, which is built of local stone, was completed in 1881 and opened by Neville Chamberlain's father, then Minister of Transport.

The light is positioned to give a waypoint for vessels on passage along the English Channel coast. To the west it gives a clear line from Portland Bill and to the east guides vessels away from the Christchurch Ledge and leads them into the Solent. The light was originally illuminated by a paraffin vapour burner (PVB).

In 1960 the station was modernised and converted from oil to mains electricity. The old fog signal, a 5 minute cannon, was replaced in 1981 by new automatic equipment. The fog signal has now been discontinued.

The station has VHF radio lighthouse equipment positioned on the roof of the former fog signal house. Its Morse code signal is (.-.-..) AL. It can be reached on VHF channel 88. Its signal is used in conjunction with a similar radio beacon located at Scatchell's Bay on the Isle of Wight.

Anvil Point Lighthouse was automated on 31st May, 1991 and is monitored and controlled from the Trinity House Operations Control Centre at Harwich.

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