Low Lighthouse (EHER 58)

The Low Lighthouse is situated on the eastern (seaward) shore of the Harwich peninsula. It is a Grade II Listed Building and was constructed in 1818 as one of a pair providing leading lights for the safe approach to Harwich Harbour. The central tower of the Low Lighthouse is constructed in yellow stock brick (painted white) to a tapering decagonal design. It rises to 13.5 metres and contains three floors and a cellar. Internal stairways (replaced in the 1970s) link the rooms and lead to the lamp chamber at the top, which is covered by a stone 'tent' roof with lotus finial and the vent shaft for the original oil lamp (long since removed). The lamp room windows, which take up most of the south western elevation at this level, are also modern replacements, designed for clear views across the harbour mouth. The lighthouse was commissioned by General Rebow and built by John Rennie the Elder to his own designs. Shifting sand banks in the harbour approaches rendered the Harwich Lights increasingly hazardous to navigate towards the middle of the 19th century, (when they became known as the 'misleading lights') and in 1863 they were replaced by new leading lights set on prefabricated iron frameworks at Dovercourt, some 2km further down the coast. By this time the Low Lighthouse had become a favourite landmark along the route used for seafront constitutionals. In the years after World War II the lighthouse developed from a lookout point to a pilot station; the balcony, lamp room windows and most of the internal fittings date from this period. In the 1980s, as the pilot station moved to a new purpose built structure further up the peninsula, the lighthouse was relinquished by Trinity House, passed into the care of Tendring District Council and was adapted by the Harwich Society to serve as a Maritime Museum. It is a Scheduled monument.

The Low Lighthouse is situated on the eastern (seaward) shore of the Harwich peninsula it is paired with the Harwich High Light (see EHER 3390). <1> - <4> It was thought to have been designed in 1818 by John Rennie the elder for General Rebow. A decagonal tower, 45ft high, used with the high light until shifting sandbanks made their use dangerous. The tower is of rendered brick with a conical stone cap crowned by an urn. The ground storey has a projecting canopy on iron supports. <5> <8> Other refs: <6> <7> <8> Site Management: After it was discontinued as a functioning lighthouse in 1917, it was used as a pilot office until 1976, is now unoccupied. <1> Scheduled as SAM 186 in 1975. <2> Now in use by Trinity House after restoration in 1969. <5> Aerial photographs of the lighthouse were taken as part of the SM monitoring programme in 2024 <11> Information from NRHE The Low Lighthouse is situated on the eastern (seaward) shore of the Harwich peninsula. It is a Grade II Listed Building and was constructed in 1818 as one of a pair providing leading lights for the safe approach to Harwich Harbour. The central tower of the Low Lighthouse is constructed in yellow stock brick (painted white) to a tapering decagonal design. It rises to 13.5 metres and contains three floors and a cellar. Internal stairways (replaced in the 1970s) link the rooms and lead to the lamp chamber at the top, which is covered by a stone 'tent' roof with lotus finial and the vent shaft for the original oil lamp (long since removed). The lamp room windows, which take up most of the south western elevation at this level, are also modern replacements, designed for clear views across the harbour mouth. The lighthouse was commissioned by General Rebow and built by John Rennie the Elder to his own designs. Shifting sand banks in the harbour approaches rendered the Harwich Lights increasingly hazardous to navigate towards the middle of the 19th century, (when they became known as the 'misleading lights') and in 1863 they were replaced by new leading lights set on prefabricated iron frameworks at Dovercourt, some 2km further down the coast. By this time the Low Lighthouse had become a favourite landmark along the route used for seafront constitutionals. In the years after World War II the lighthouse developed from a lookout point to a pilot station; the balcony, lamp room windows and most of the internal fittings date from this period. In the 1980s, as the pilot station moved to a new purpose built structure further up the peninsula, the lighthouse was relinquished by Trinity House, passed into the care of Tendring District Council and was adapted by the Harwich Society to serve as a Maritime Museum. It is a Scheduled monument. <11> - <17>