Old Lower Lighthouse
The Old Lower Lighthouse is a disused 19th century lighthouse on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, southern England. It is located along the eastern side of Portland Bill. The lighthouse, including its boundary walls and coastguard house, became Grade II Listed in September 1978. Working alongside the Old Higher Lighthouse from 1716, the lower lighthouse has subsequently been rebuilt twice, once in 1789 (when it became the first working lighthouse to have its light intensified by lenses and again in 1869. The lighthouse seen today was built in 1869 and has been the home of the Portland Bird Observatory since 1961. History Original operation as a lighthouse The surrounding coast of Portland, namely Portland Bill and Chesil Beach, have been notorious for the many vessels that became shipwrecked in the area over the centuries. After years of local petitions to Trinity House, the organisation agreed for a lighthouse to be built at Portland Bill. George I granted the patent in 1716. That year it was announced that Trinity House had 'caus'd to be erected two round Light-Houses of Stone upon Portland, in the County of Dorset, distant about two Thirds of a Mile from the Bill of Portland'. The Old