The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch
I love this book and used to enjoy reading it to my own children, as well as the children I taught. Mr Grinling, the lighthouse keeper, has his lunch sent across to him every day on a line by Mrs Grinling. The problem is that the seagulls really appreciate Mrs Grinling’s offerings and she is constantly seeking a way to prevent them stealing her husband’s food.
It was published in 1977, written by Ronda Armitage and illustrated by her husband, David. Ronda Armitage was born in 1943 in Kaikoura, New Zealand. In 1974, she and David and their two children moved to England, and the book was inspired by the lighthouse at Beachy Head on the southern coast of UK.
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Beachy Head Lighthouse, in East Sussex, was commissioned in October, 1902, as a replacement for the Belle Tout Lighthouse, which now serves as a hotel.
Belle Tout was built on top of the cliffs, but was never very successful, as the light was obscured by sea mists. That’s a strange thing to say, for surely all lighthouses are subject to the vagaries of the weather. Apparently, under such conditions, the light did not reach far enough out to sea, and ships sailing close to the rocks could not see the light because it was blocked by the cliffs. Coastal erosion solved that problem for a few years, until it was decided to build an alternative on the rocks below.
BelleTout, a Grade II listed building, was moved in 1999 because erosion was threatening the foundations, and after passing through several sales, finally settled as a quaint guesthouse.
The red and white Beachy Head Lighthouse is the last offshore lighthouse to be built by Trinity House, ‘the official authority for lighthouses in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar’. It was also one of the last lighthouses to be electrified, bringing to an end the tradition of lighthouse keepers. For the first eighty years of its existence, three keepers cleaned and maintained the light, living in quarters lit by paraffin lamps.
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Contenders for the oddest lighthouse must include the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse, which marked a sandbank off the coast of East Sussex, near Eastbourne. A single pillar rose from the seabed to support a lighthouse tower and helicopter platform. In 2023, the top section was taken away. The pillar is destined to be removed in 2024.