Northfleet Lower Lighthouse

Northfleet Lower Lighthouse

Lighthouse, erected in 1883. A slender, tapering round tower approximately 16 metres high, constructed from a riveted wrought-iron frame painted red. The structure comprises six stages, with the top four divided by metal platforms and the bottom two by a horizontal band running inside the uprights. It is supported on four uprights with diagonal cross struts connecting uprights and horizontals. Stages two and three feature a half screen of closely placed uprights on the downriver side. Access to the tower is by internal ladder rising through the platforms of each stage.

The top platform is wider than those below and is surrounded by a balcony. It carries a centrally placed octagonal metal hut with windows facing seaward, capped by a pitched roof topped with a ball finial and arrow weather vane. The hut originally housed a white occulting light visible for six miles with a ten-second cycle, later converted to red and white occulting. The light is no longer in use.

History and Context

The lighthouse was erected by Trinity House in 1883 to replace an earlier light. Originally sited on India Arms Wharf near the India Arms Tavern, its purpose was to guide vessels navigating the bend from Gravesend Reach to Northfleet Hope on their way to the Port of London. In 1968, as a result of waterfront development, the lighthouse was moved 282 metres downstream to its present location. The structure was unmanned but inspected three times fortnightly by a Trinity House attendant. Originally lit by acetylene, it was converted to town gas in 1975 and subsequently to electricity.

Northfleet Lower Lighthouse is one of only five surviving wrought-iron framed lighthouses on the Thames. Fourteen such structures were constructed between 1849 and 1926 to guide shipping upriver from the open sea to London Bridge. The two earliest and furthest from London Bridge, Mucking Bight and Chapman lighthouses, were demolished in the 1950s. All other surviving Thames lighthouses date to the later 19th and early 20th centuries, with Northfleet Lower being the earliest of these. It represents an early and fine example of innovative wrought-iron construction design, few 19th-century examples of which survive. It is the most structurally complex and visually striking of the remaining River Thames lighthouses and holds an important place in the history of river navigation.