Llanddwyn Island Lighthouse
The Llanddwyn Island Lighthouse, on Ynys Llanddwyn in Anglesey, Wales, marks the western entrance to the Menai Strait.
The 1873 tower is tapered in a way characteristic of Anglesey windmills, it is 33 feet (10 m) high and 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter. It may have been constructed by an Anglesey stone mason, and it is possible that the tower itself was originally used as a windmill.
The lantern and fittings cost £250 7s 6d, including the adaptation of an ‘earlier tower’. The north-east door is flanked by small windows, and the two floors above also have small windows, but the top does not. The conical roof is slated and has a flagpole. The present lantern window is about 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) by 2 feet (0.61 m). The optic, silver plated reflector and Fresnel lens were used into the 1970s and are dated 1861. The lantern was originally lit by six Argand lamps with reflectors.
A smaller, conical tower, with a domed top, can be found to the south-east, and may be an earlier structure. The walls are 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m) in radius and 3 feet (0.91 m) thick with a door to the north-west and shows signs of cracking to the rubble-filled walls on the west.
Both towers do not show on the chart of Lewis Morris, of 1800, but do appear on the Ordnance Survey 1818-1823 2 inches/mile map and both probably originated as unlit markers.
The cottages nearby have been used as craft workshops, and the local community here once serviced pilot-boats and lifeboats.