With the sad news that Orford Ness lighthouse will be demolished, here are a few 360 photos I took with a borrowed Ricoh Theta S when visiting the site on a tour organised by the Orford Ness Lighthouse Trust in 2016.
Orford Ness lighthouse has stood on this site since Napoleonic times, finally being decommissioned in 2013 following erosion which made the structure unsafe – since then the site has been owned and run by the Trust who are now supervising the demolition and preservation of the light’s artifacts.
I’ve linked to these images on momento 360 – they should work in a browser but also using VR goggles.
First is the exterior, showing the Oil Store building and outside entrance. You can see the sausage bags placed to attempt to control the retreat of the coastline.
Next is the entrance to the Lighthouse – on the beach behind me is the remains of one of the buildings that was used to test RADAR in the 1930s.
Ground floor interior. Originally there were two lightouse keeper cottages, and this is reflected in the double staircase.
Up the stairs. Quite steep and I’m not great with heights.
Onto the landing – the green and red windows were used as navigational aids for the river Alde.
And finally onto the top. The light mechanism which sat in four tonnes of mercury was removed when the lighthouse was decommissioned in 2013. You can see behind my head the two communication tubes which connected to the two lighthouse keeper cottages outside.
Thank you to the Orford Ness Lighthouse Trust for the tour. I do hope one day that their dream to rebuild this iconic lighthouse closer to Orford could one day be realised.