Monton Lighthouse

England has a substantially large canal network, and generally, navigating these canals is relatively straightforward. The canal boats do not need the types of nautical aids that larger ocean-faring vessels need. Nonetheless, a lighthouse stands alongside the Bridgewater Canal 30 miles inland from the coast within the suburban area of Monton to the west of Manchester’s city center.

The lighthouse is the creation of “Barnacle” Phil Austin. Austin originally lived on a boat near the plot of land where the lighthouse now stands, which was originally wasteland. In the early 2000s, Austin acquired the plot and wanted to build a home on it, but he had difficulty getting permission from the local planning authority because of building regulations imposed on the site, which was near a conservation area. He found a loophole, though. Lighthouses, for whatever reason, were apparently permitted, and so he initiated construction on the structure.

Austin took three years to build the lighthouse, which was completed in 2004. The red and white structure stands 36-feet-high and has a total of three floors. The building even had a functional light, although it was only illuminated for special occasions.

While originally receiving mixed opinions from local residents, the lighthouse has now been embraced as a symbol of the otherwise nondescript suburban area of Monton. The building attracts a lot of visitors, and the pub across the canal from the lighthouse benefits from the traffic business. As for Austin himself, he now lives in a bungalow next to the lighthouse, which the local council let him build years after his loophole-home was constructed. Still, he likes to spend time in the lantern room watching the canal boats go by.