Overview
James Walker's Trwyn Du Lighthouse was built in 1835–38 to mark the north entrance to the Menai Strait after repeated calls for a light. Its stepped wave-breaking base became a model for later sea towers; automation in 1922 and solar power changed the work, but the light remains active.
Why it was built
Liverpool pilots wanted a light between Penmon Point and Puffin Island, where vessels entered the Menai Strait. The wreck of the Rothsay Castle nearby in 1831, with great loss of life, added urgency to the danger already recognised by working mariners.
People and work
Trinity House engineer James Walker designed his first tower built on a rock washed by the sea. Two keepers originally maintained the light and fog bell, living with the restrictions of a low isolated rock cut off by the channel.
How it changed
The light first showed red and warned in fog with a bell. Resident keepers were withdrawn when automatic acetylene equipment arrived in 1922; solar power followed in the 1990s, and distant staff now check and control the working station.
What survives
The round stone tower stands with three black bands, a battlemented gallery and the warning that there is no shoreward passage. Its stepped base throws wave force outward, while Walker's early toilet drain remains an unexpectedly practical part of the design.
Why it mattered
Trwyn Du made a narrow and busy passage safer and gave Walker a working test for later offshore towers. The base, vertical walls and stone parapet show engineering shaped directly by violent water rather than by appearance alone.
History checked 16 August 2026 against the named sources below.
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