Geograph - photograph every grid square

Holyhead Breakwater Lighthouse was established at the end of the 1.7 mile-long breakwater in 1873. The breakwater, the longest in Europe, was built between 1846 and 1873. The Prince of Wales officially opened it on 19th August 1873. The lighthouse stands 19.2m (63ft) high with a roll-moulded string-course projecting above first floor level, and is unusual in being (6.78m - 22ft 3in) square in plan. A moulded cornice supports a walkway around the circular lantern and the domed apex is surmounted by a weathervane and finial. This three-storeyed lighthouse is painted black and white with chamfered angles and a stepped plinth set on an oval platform on the breakwater. John Hawkshaw is thought to have been the engineer to the lighthouse which was automated in November 1961 and monitored from the Trinity House Holyhead Depot.