Description:
La Corbière Lighthouse - 1874.

This was the first lighthouse in the British Isles to be built of reinforced concrete. Designed by Sir John Coode, consulting engineer to the States of Jersey Piers and Harbours Committee; it was built by his resident engineer, Mr Imrie Bell

All materials for the tower and causeway were carried from St Helier by barge and landed by wire jackstay onto the lower platform work area. The mixed concrete was hauled up an inclined railway to the top of the rock and cast in situ. The walls are 5ft 3ins (1.6m) thick at the base and 2ft 6ins (0.8m) at the top. The total cost was £8,001, which included the causeway and keepers’ cottages.

The tower is 62ft (19m) high and the lamp 119ft (36m) above high water spring tides, thus enabling it to be seen from the horizon at 18 miles. The light shows for 5 seconds in every 10, white to seaward and red along the coast to the north and to the east. It was lit for the first time on 24 April 1874.

Messrs. Chance Brothers Ltd. of Smethwick, Birmingham built the light. The fixed 4ft 10ins (1500mm) catadioptric lens was lit, until 1965, by a vaporising paraffin (kerosene) lamp with clockwork driven shade. It is now driven electrically with a 1000-watt lamp that gives an intensity of 300,000 candles.

The original fog signal, a bell and an explosive detonator, was replaced in 1933 by a compressed air horn with engines in the lower square building. Today, the electric foghorn gives four blasts (letter C in Morse Code) every minute. There is also a radio beacon at the lighthouse (295.50 KHz).

The four keepers, who lived in the nearby cottages, kept watch until 1976 when the light was automated. As well as maintaining the light and fog signal, they passed details of approaching ships to Fort Regent Signal Station and St Helier Harbour Office.

The lighthouse was camouflaged and the light was dimmed on 4th September 1939. It was extinguished in June 1940 for the duration of the German Occupation and, except for special operations was not relit until 19 May 1945.

Today the States of Jersey Harbours Department and the Department of Electronics maintain the lighthouse. La Corbiere Radio Tower, one of three huge observation towers built during the Occupation, is located half a mile to the east. The tower's old compressor room formerly housed an emergency generator and an emergency light of reduced power. In 2006, la Corbiere Radio Tower was decommissioned and has been extensively renovated as a unique self-catering property and can be booked during the summer months through the Jersey Heritage Trust.