HistoryPoints News

Jun 16, 2024

Lighthouse automation in 1893

Lighthouses around the UK have been automated in recent decades, but Newport's East Usk lighthouse has been running itself since as far back as 1893. After trials of the concept at the Thames estuary, a clockwork mechanism was ...

ordered for the new lighthouse at the entrance to Newport docks. The machinery saved fuel by adjusting the lantern at dawn and dusk, even being programmed for the changing length of daytime through the year. For more about the lighthouse - and the story of a "child parachutist" whose body was found nearby in 1896 - use your smartphone to scan the HistoryPoints QR codes beside the Wales Coast Path near the lighthouse. Or click here

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Towyn floods illustrated

Oct 9, 2024

Hundreds of people have read our information about the 1990 tidal flood at Towyn since we placed QR codes on the sea wall near the funfair in 2012. Now we've updated our web page about the sea defences with photos of the floodwater ...

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Porthgain's steam railway

Oct 2, 2024

Today Porthgain is a rural Pembrokeshire idyll, so walkers on the coast path may be surprised when they scan new HistoryPoints QR codes which reveal the extent of the steam railway that once served a granite quarry. Before the first steam ...

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Llanengan's isolated chimney

Sep 24, 2024

The tall chimney which stands in isolation on a hill above Llanengan, near Abersoch, may puzzle some visitors, but now you can scan HistoryPoints QR codes nearby to discover that it was built for a Victorian lead mine which had a steam-powered ...

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