Standing on Berrow Road in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, Burnham High Lighthouse looks more like a giant white chimney than a house. Built for Trinity House in the 1830s, the circular brick tower was designed by Joseph Nelson to work alongside Burnham’s Low Lighthouse and guide ships through the shifting waters of the Bristol Channel. Sources differ slightly on its height, with figures ranging from about 30 metres to 33 metres, so it is safest to describe the tower as around 110 feet tall. By the 1990s, its working life was coming to an end. The lighthouse was deactivated and sold by Trinity House, eventually passing to a member of the Rothschild family. In 1996, it was put up for auction, where it failed to reach its reserve. Patrick O’Hagan, then a young television journalist who had been sent to cover the sale, became interested enough to investigate the building himself. He eventually bought it and began the much more difficult task of turning a former lighthouse into a home. Nearly two centuries after its construction, Burnham High Lighthouse offers a striking example of how historic industrial structures can find genuine new purpose, preserving their original character while adapting entirely to serve the needs of modern life.
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