Skip to content
The Great Britain Guide

Lighthouses · South East England

Portland Bill Lighthouse

ModernTrinity HouseFree admission

Portland Bill Lighthouse — lighthouse on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England, UK.

Portland Bill Lighthouse, lighthouses in South East England

Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
30 min–1 h
  • Free entry
  • Family-friendly
  • Dog-friendly

About

Portland Bill Lighthouse is a working or historic lighthouse on the United Kingdom coast. Records date its origin to 1903. Heritage designation: Grade II listed building. Managed by Trinity House. Wikidata describes it as: "lighthouse on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England, UK". Coordinates: 50.5143°, -2.4564°.

Photo gallery

Heritage listing

Portland Bill Lighthouse is a functioning lighthouse at Portland Bill, on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. The lighthouse and its boundary walls are Grade II Listed. As Portland Bill's largest and most recent lighthouse, the Trinity House operated Portland Bill Lighthouse is distinctively white and red striped, standing at a height of 41 metres (135 ft). It was completed by 1906 and first shone out on 11 January 1906.

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.

Protected designations

  • Site of Special Scientific Interest: Isle of Portland SSSI

Designations sourced from Natural England open data under OGL v3.

From the Wikipedia article

Portland Bill Lighthouse is a functioning lighthouse at Portland Bill, on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. The lighthouse and its boundary walls are Grade II Listed. As Portland Bill's largest and most recent lighthouse, the Trinity House operated Portland Bill Lighthouse is distinctively white and red striped, standing at a height of 41 metres (135 ft). It was completed by 1906 and first shone out on 11 January 1906. The lighthouse guides passing vessels through the hazardous waters surrounding the Bill, while also acting as a waymark for ships navigating the English Channel.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

in the distance]] The two original lighthouses, now known as the Old Higher Lighthouse and Old Lower Lighthouse, operated as a pair of leading lights to guide ships between Portland Race and The Shambles sandbank. At the turn of the 20th-century, Trinity House put forward plans for building a new lighthouse at Bill Point. They acquired the required land in 1903. The builders, Wakeham Bros. of Plymouth, began work on the foundations in October 1903. Chance & Co of Birmingham supplied and fitted the lantern. A pressurised vapour paraffin lamp was used, placed at the centre of a large (first-order) revolving optic; weighing 3.5 tons, this was made up of four asymmetrical catadioptric lens…

Visiting

In 2019-2020 a new non-rotating LED light source was installed in the lantern room and a new omnidirectional fog signal was installed on the exterior lantern gallery (replacing the electric emitter installed in the 1990s). The two LED lanterns (one of which is used, the other kept on standby) have a reduced range of 18 nmi.

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
50.5143, -2.4564
District
Dorset
Parish
Portland
Postcode
DT5 2JT
Parliamentary constituency
South Dorset
Phone
+44 1255 245156
Established
1903
Opening
unknown

Sources

Other places nearby

Loading nearby places…

Nearby

More places run by Trinity House

Other lighthouses from this era

More lighthouses in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is Portland Bill Lighthouse?
Portland Bill Lighthouse is in South-East England, United Kingdom (postcode DT5 2JT), in the parish of Portland.
When was Portland Bill Lighthouse built?
Built or established in 1903.
Who runs Portland Bill Lighthouse?
Portland Bill Lighthouse is operated by Trinity House.
Is Portland Bill Lighthouse a listed building?
Portland Bill Lighthouse is officially recognised as Grade II listed building listed.
Is Portland Bill Lighthouse a protected site?
Yes — Portland Bill Lighthouse is part of the Isle of Portland SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Is Portland Bill Lighthouse free to visit?
Yes, Portland Bill Lighthouse is free to enter.