Lighthouse, Culmore Point, Londonderry

This is a 19th-century river navigational lighthouse, built in the second half of the 19th century, situated at Culmore Point, Londonderry. It forms part of a series of structures designed to mark navigable stretches of the river and possesses both historical and social significance.

The lighthouse is a circular, conical structure approximately 5.4 metres high and 2.5 metres in diameter at its base. It features a consistent batter, or inward slope, from base to top, reducing to a diameter of roughly 1.8 metres at the summit. Situated almost at the top of the tower on the riverside is an oriel window, consisting of a projecting, splayed cill supported by simple moulded corbels and a matching projecting head. Originally, three sides of this window would have been glazed, and it housed the light, initially powered by oil. The light source is now a revolving white electric light mounted on top of the tower, surrounded by a modern arrangement of railing and wire mesh. A narrow door is located on the landward side, with a threshold set 800mm above ground level. A simple torus moulding forms an architrave over the blocked-up doorway, which has since been smooth rendered. The tower walls are finished in smooth plaster, incorporating a slight plinth, a string band just above the doorhead, and a roll moulding at the top of the tower. The structure is painted green at its base and white above, with the name "Culmore" painted in large white letters against a black background above the green plinth.

The Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners, established in 1854, commissioned the Edinburgh engineering firm of D & T Stevenson shortly thereafter to improve the river and quayage. The Commissioners had previously engaged them for a survey of the River Foyle. The new lighthouses were constructed in the 1860s. Prior to this, the Culmore light was situated on a fixed pole. The Coneyburrow lighthouse predates the Culmore light and is a larger structure. Ordnance Survey maps from 1905 and 1948 describe the light respectively as a white light and a revolving light. Before electricity was introduced, the lamps were powered by acetylene, and earlier by oil, situated within the projecting oriel window.