Berry Head’s lighthouses and Napoleonic fort

The fort on Berry Head was built in 1794 to deter a French invasion that never came. Walls 2 metres thick, gun emplacements for 16 cannon, a permanent garrison of 600 men. Today the walls still stand and you can walk the ramparts for free.

Inside the fort, the upper lighthouse takes some explaining: it’s only 5 metres tall (the shortest in Britain) because it stands on the headland 60 metres above the sea, which makes its lamp the third-highest of any UK lighthouse despite being the shortest tower. Automated since 1921, still working.

The lower lighthouse, on the cliff edge a short walk away, was built later (1906) as a closer warning for ships in fog. Smaller still, but worth the diversion for the cliff view down to the gun emplacements.

Allow an hour. Take a torch for the cave – the entrance is in the cliff face below the upper lighthouse and stretches 30 metres back into the rock. Bats live there in winter; visiting is restricted between October and March.