Battery Point Lighthouse was built in 1931 by Chance Brothers of Smethwick on a rocky promontory on the north west edge of Portishead. The deep water channel known as King Road passes very close to the coast at this point. The lighthouse, which is also known as Portishead Point Lighthouse, is nine metres tall and consists of a black metal pyramid on a square concrete base. The lighthouse is maintained by Bristol Port Company. In 1999 they announced that they wanted to demolish the lighthouse and replace it with a modern navigational aid. After a campaign by local residents, they agreed to build a replica of the original lighthouse.
A two tonne bronze fog signal bell was installed at Battery Point Lighthouse in 1939. It was removed c1998. It was found in a warehouse owned by Bristol Port Company in Avonmouth in 2010. After a campaign by local residents, it was acquired by Portishead Town Council in 2012. It was restored and re-sited on Wyndham Way in 2013.
Battery Point Bell on Wyndham Way
There is a Merchant Navy Memorial close to Battery Point Lighthouse with a brass plaque attached to it. The words on the plaque are as follows:
“This stone is situated here at Battery Point, the closest place on the coast of the United Kingdom which large ships pass.
It is dedicated to seafarers of the West Country who, since the Middle Ages, on voyages of discovery and in times of peace and war, have passed this point, some never to return.
“Oh hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea.”
Erected by the Merchant Navy Association
North Somerset Branch, 2005”
Merchant Navy Memorial at Battery Point
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