Beaming from a lighthouse

The experimental lighthouse and buoy shed at Trinity Buoy Wharf

By Internet Correspondent Chris Nuttall
The Millennium Dome, viewed by its critics as a pointless waste of money, is on the opposite bank to London's only lighthouse, a building which at first glance might seem equally needless.

There are no dangerous rocks to watch out for on this bend of the Thames and the fog rarely rolls in so far. But the lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf, site of the BBC domecam, was built for experimental purposes in the 19th century and was used by the famous scientist Michael Faraday.

Trinity Buoy Wharf in days of yore

The site was owned by Trinity House, the lighthouse authority for the coast of England and Wales, from 1803 to 1988. It was then taken over by the London Docklands Development Corporation, which administered the transformation of London's docklands into new communities.

When the LDDC was wound up at the end of March 1998, Trinity Buoy Wharf came into the possession of Urban Space Management, which specialises in creating centres for the arts.

The buildings around the lighthouse, formerly used for constructing and storing buoys, are now set to become an arts complex, perhaps attached to the Millennium Experience being developed across the water on the south bank.