Bishop Rock Lighthouse
Local highlightThe tallest and most exposed rock lighthouse in England, on a tiny Atlantic rock off the western edge of the Isles of Scilly
Bishop Rock is often called the end of Britain, a slim granite tower rising straight out of a wave-washed rock at the far south-western edge of the Isles of Scilly, with nothing beyond but the open Atlantic. The light warns shipping off the Western Rocks, the low reef of islets and skerries that has wrecked countless vessels approaching from the west. The first tower was swept away by a storm in 1850 before it was ever lit; the granite one that stands today, finished in 1858, is the tallest lighthouse in England. Trinity House, who look after the lighthouses of England and Wales, automated the light in 1992, so no keepers live out there now. For decades ocean liners timed their record-breaking Blue Riband crossings of the Atlantic from Bishop Rock.
