I was informed by a regular, and probably the most eagle-eyed, reader that I had missed a blog post covering a lighthouse I had visited last week. He is indeed correct. I confess, I visited Egypt Point lighthouse without writing about it here. Now there are times when I quickly stop off at a lighthouse and don’t mention it on here, but as a fan of the little lights I do now feel it would be wrong of me not to promote them whenever I get an opportunity.
My first intentional visit to Egypt Point lighthouse was in August last year, which seems crazy as I am from the Isle of Wight and lived in Cowes itself for a couple of years. As I said in that earlier post, I’d passed the lighthouse here numerous times in the days before I became seriously interested in lighthouses, and not paid it any attention.
Egypt Point lighthouse is unique, there isn’t another one like it (as far as I recall). It can be found on the most northerly point of the Isle of Wight at the side of Egypt Esplanade, at the bottom of Egypt Hill. All very Egyptian you may be thinking. Well, it turns out that the “Egypt” in Egypt Point apparently takes it name from the fact that a colony of gypsies lived in the area in the sixteenth century. That’s another thing I’d not questioned before.
The tower is actually quite old, 122 years old to be precise, although you wouldn’t think it. It was built by Trinity House and, in 1969, the original lantern was removed and replaced by a new light powered by electricity. The old lantern can now be found at Hurst Castle as part of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers Museum. The added bonus of going to Hurst Castle to see the lantern is that you can see three lighthouses, plus the old Nab Tower lighthouse.
The light at Egypt Point was switched off for good in 1989 and, in 2007, ownership passed over to the Isle of Wight Council after a couple of local councillors campaigned for it to be kept. Just last month it was reported that Cowes Town Council are being urged by Cowes Heritage to take over maintenance of the tower.
This has to be among the easiest lighthouses to get to with it being right at the side of the road. Only the double yellow lines are there to stop you parking right next to it. Let’s hope it gets the care and attention it needs so people can just carrying on walking straight past it with only the occasional lighthouse bagger stopping to enjoy its existence.
Oh, and while I’m confessing, I did briefly see St Catherine’s lighthouse on the Isle of Wight last week too, but that was so brief I didn’t even get a picture. 🙂
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