Illustrator Ben Langworthy continues his mission to draw each of the 300+ lighthouses which litter the UK coastline

The Point of Aye Lighthouse is better know as Talacre, the name of the beach on which it stands. It was built in 1776, is 59ft tall and was decommissioned 1844.

There’s something inherently spooky about lighthouses. Perhaps it’s to do with their isolation…the thought of solitary keepers tending the lights, cut off from the rest of the world. Despite its diminutive size and the fact that it is relatively near to the local town, Talacre lighthouse is no less embedded in local folklore. On the contrary, in fact: there are many tales of the supernatural attached to it. A ghostly figure in old work clothing is said to have been seen walking its balcony on several occasions, and there are stories of mysterious footprints found leading to the building in the sand. Could this perhaps have been the spectre of Raymond, a spirit reportedly contacted by a psychic who claimed to be a former a lighthouse keeper who died of fever?

In reaction to these stories, the previous owner of the lighthouse commissioned a local artist to build a ‘human sculpture’. ‘The Keeper’ is an 8ft high stainless steel figure which stands on the building’s balcony, gazing across the local landscape. Hopefully Raymond is an art lover.