You wouldn’t think you’d find a lighthouse in London would you, I certainly didn’t but there is in fact a lighthouse in London and it is situated at Trinity Quay Wharf.

The interest for us and our era is not so much that this is the only lighthouse in the metropolis, that in itself is quite interesting in itself but it is that Michael Faraday, the chap that discovered electromagnetic induction (the principle behind the electric transformer and generator) in 1831.

In 1836 Faraday was appointed Scientific Advisor to Trinity House, the corporation responsible for Lighthouses throughout he UK. He worked on the optical adjustments of lighthouse lenses, ventilation and improvements.

He invented a new form of chimney for lighthouses which would prevent the products of combustion settling on the glass of the lantern.

The lighthouse at Trinity Wharf was built in 1864.

Now I quite like lighthouses but the problems is I am terrified of heights and quite recently we visited one in Southwold which is on the north Suffolk coast. This too was constructed by Trinity House from 1887 and was taken into service in 1890

The inside was fascinating…

…well from the ground anyway!