One of Suffolk’s most iconic structures is today teetering on the brink of disaster.
Orfordness Lighthouse, which has stood guard over one of the most treacherous stretches of sea along the county’s coastline for 200 years, has seen the beach in front of it disappear rapidly in recent weeks.
Now it stands just one fierce storm – the combination of winds and tides from the wrong direction, heavy winter seas whipped up to pound its frontage – from being swept away altogether.
Campaigners have launched an urgent appeal to raise £10,000 for immediate repairs – with a team of 10 volunteers on standby to carry out the emergency protection work.
If the money can be raised for the project, it could keep the grade-II listed lighthouse standing while funds are raised for a long-term solution that could ensure its protection for another 20 years or more.
Nicholas Gold, founding member of the Orfordness Lighthouse Trust, said: “Over the last few weeks the wind has turned to the south and south-east and has attacked the defences in front of the lighthouse and removed a quite severe amount of the beach.
“The lighthouse is now far more in peril than it was.
“We have a team of people and fishermen who are ready to help and rush round and carry out repairs to the shore.
“We are staying vigilant and hoping that everything will be all right, but we know that one storm of the wrong combination could bring the end and that could come any time.
“What we would really like to do is to put sheet piling in front of the lighthouse – similar to the work that was done around the Bawdsey Manor area and which has lasted 20 years.
“The lighthouse is one of the most fabulous and iconic features of the East Anglian coastline and people love it. We had 190 visit to see it on New Year’s Day.”
The trust believes that if repairs are not carried out to the in the next few weeks, then the lighthouse will in all likelihood not be standing in a year’s time.
Recent big seas and strong winds have ripped out the shingle covering the £15,000-worth of temporary defences the Orfordness Lighthouse Trust put down in spring 2014 and 2015 after 10 metres of shoreline was eroded.
Further south-easterly storms are predicted to hit the lighthouse head-on this week, with “a real risk of significant damage” to the defences.
The group says although the temporary defences have been exposed, the bags of shingle wrapped in “sausages” of high-performance geo-textile bonding are still there. The aim – if the money can be raised – is to enhance these by putting another two layers of wrapped shingle to shore up the beach below the lighthouse.
In a plea to its supporters, the trust said: “This work must be done immediately to keep the lighthouse safe to enter. The structure is very sound, but the sea can easily strip out the land on which it stands.
“However, these ‘soft defences’ are only a temporary sea defence – a long-term solution would be to put in ‘hard defences’ of sheet piling in front of the lighthouse. This will cost an estimated £190,000.”
To contribute to the appeal, people can post donations to Orfordness Lighthouse Trust, Quay Street, Orford, Woodbridge, IP12 2NU.
Alternatively donations can be made through bank transfer Sort Code: 20-47-34 Account: 73879364. The trust can claim Gift Aid if people send their name and address, either by email via the trust website or with a posted donation.
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