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Orfordness Lighthouse top removed as part of work to dismantle

Drone footage captured the start of deconstruction work

The top of an historic lighthouse has been lifted off as part of work to dismantle it after 200 years of duty.

The Orfordness Lighthouse is being taken down because the sea is gradually eating up the land on which it sits.

Work on the Grade II-listed structure on the Suffolk coast began on Thursday.

As it began, owner Nicholas Gold, who bought the structure in 2013, said he felt "highly emotional" as it had taken "a big chunk of my life".

Orfordness lighthouse
The process of removing the roof cap started late on Thursday
Anglian Demolition & Asbestos Ltd Orfordness lighthouseAnglian Demolition & Asbestos Ltd
Work to dismantle the lighthouse roof involved removing years of paint and cutting through the steel

The current Orfordness Lighthouse is the 11th - and final - warning beacon stationed on Europe's longest shingle spit.

Established 228 years ago, it was never designed to be in the sea because saltwater would erode its lime mortar.

In the early-1980s, its base was 90m (295ft) from the sea. Then, in the winter of 2013-14, four metres (13ft) of beach was lost in a single storm.

Following 2018's "Beast from the East" storms, the sea is now just a few metres from the red and white structure.

Orfordness lighthouse
After days of preparation, deconstruction work at the historic Orfordness lighthouse is under way

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The Orfordness Lighthouse Trust filled rubble sacks with shingle and bound them together to fashion a flexible wall to protect it from erosion, and this has kept the building standing for longer than expected.

But longer-term defences are not allowed because it sits on Orford Ness - the largest vegetated shingle spit in Europe at a length of about 10 miles - which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Orfordness lighthouse
The sea is now just a few metres from the lighthouse
Orfordness lighthouse
Nicholas Gold bought the lighthouse in mid-2013

Volunteers are now dismantling the building while there is enough shingle beach left for a crane to come and lift its cap and 14-tonne lantern room.

The trust hopes parts of the lighthouse can be used in a permanent memorial on the other side of the Ness, facing Orford town's quay.

The nature reserve on which the lighthouse stands is currently closed to the public.

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England's lighthouses

Orfordness Lighthouse
The Orfordness site is closed to visitors and members of the public have been told to stay away while the deconstruction work takes place
  • England is home to more than 130 lighthouses.
  • The first to be built on rock in the open sea was Winstanley's Tower in 1698, off Plymouth.
  • The 19m (62ft) Dover Pharos was built by the Romans in about 50AD and was still in use when William the Conqueror arrived in 1066.
  • The last manned lighthouse closed in 1998 at North Foreland in Kent.
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