An introduction to Pencarrow Lighthouse

Talk about a lovely, lonely landmark. The 1859 lighthouse on Wellington Harbour’s windblasted Pencarrow Head radiates romantic isolation as vividly as the beam it once cast, which on clear nights used to reach as far as Marlborough’s Cloudy Bay. Decommissioned in 1935, when it was replaced by a diesel-powered lighthouse further east at Baring Head, it stands on a clifftop, a historic sentinel with no job left to do now but look captivatingly cinematic. If  landmarks could speak, you suspect this one would have some terrific stories to tell.