Lighthouses of Anguilla

Anguilla is a self-governing British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands at the extreme northeastern corner of the Caribbean Sea. The population is about 15,000. Founded as a British colony in 1650, Anguilla was governed from 1825 as a dependency of St. Kitts-Nevis. In 1967 Anguillans drove out St. Kitts officials and insisted that the island become a separate British territory; this was confirmed by Parliament's Anguilla Act in 1971. Anguilla continues today as a British Overseas Territory.

The Territory includes the island of Anguilla and a number of smaller islands and cays. The most remote of these is Sombrero, 55 km (34 mi) to the northwest. Though it is a tiny bit of land Sombrero is important to navigators because it lies precisely at the point of entry to the Caribbean for many ships arriving from Europe.

Navigational aids in Anguilla are maintained by the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 110.

General Sources
Online List of Lights - Anguilla
Photos by various photographers posted by Alexander Trabas.
Lighthouses in Anguilla
Photos by various photographers available from Wikimedia.
World of Lighthouses - Anguilla
Photos by various photographers available from Lightphotos.net.
GPSNauticalCharts
Navigational chart information for Anguilla.
Navionics Charts
Navigational chart for Anguilla.


2001 Sombrero Light, Anguilla
with bases of the 1962 lighthouse (left) and the 1868 lighthouse (right)
photo copyright Capt. Peter Mosselberger; used by permission

Sombrero Lighthouses
Sombrero (1-3)
2001 (station established 1868). Active; focal plane 28 m (92 ft); white flash every 10 s. Approx. 15 m (50 ft) round tower, painted white. No lantern. Trabas has Capt. Peter Mosselberger's photo (also seen above), a 2020 photo, a 2018 photo, and a 2019 view from the sea are available, Marinas.com has aerial photos, and Google has a satellite view. A broader satellite view of the island shows its resemblance to a broad-brimmed hat. This light station guards the Anegada Passage, the most important route into the Caribbean from Europe. Sombrero was claimed by the United States in 1856 and an American company arrived to mine the island's guano deposits. However, in 1867 the U.S. agreed to recognize British sovereignty over the island. The first lighthouse, shown in a Wikimedia historic photo, was constructed in the following year. Heavily damaged by Hurricane Donna in 1960, this historic lighthouse was replaced in 1962 by a 28 m (92 ft) square pyramidal skeletal tower with square central cylinder, mounted on a concrete base. The concrete base and keeper's house of the 1962 tower and the ruined base of the 1868 tower remain today. Vince Cate has a page of 1997 photos of the island showing the 1962 lighthouse. Lighthouse keepers continued to live on the island until 2001 when Trinity House, the British lighthouse service, donated and installed the modern tower. Located on the island 55 km (34 mi) northwest of the main island of Anguilla. Accessible only by boat. Site open, if you can get to it, tower closed. Owner/site manager: Government of Anguilla. ARLHS ANG-001; Admiralty J5650; NGA 14712.

Anguilla Island Lightbeacons
[Windward Point]
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 25 m (82 ft); three white flashes every 14.5 s. 10 m (33 ft) square skeletal mast, painted orange. Wayne Scheuermann has a 2018 closeup photo, another photo (almost halfway down the page) is available, Jock Gill has a street view, and the small tower is barely visible in Google's satellite view. Located at the east end of Anguilla Island. Site open, tower closed. Admiralty J5656.8; NGA 14722.
[Road Point (Road Bay)]
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 18 m (59 ft); two flashes every 14 s, white or red depending on direction. 5 m (17 ft) light on a triangular platform supported by concrete piles. Lightphotos.net has a photo and Google has a distant satellite view. Located on a prominent cape on the north coast of Anguilla, marking the entrance to Road Bay, one of the island's small harbors. Site open, tower closed. Admiralty J5656.5; NGA 14720.
[Anguillita (2?)]
Date unknown. Inactive since 2017. The light was described as an aluminum skeletal tower with a red lantern, but a distant view (no longer online) showed a skeletal mast on the island. Google has an indistinct satellite view. This light may have been removed. Located at the northern end of a small island just off the western tip of Anguilla Island. Accessible only by boat. Site open, tower closed. ex-Admiralty J5656; ex-NGA 14716.

Information available on lost lighthouses:

Notable faux lighthouses:

Adjoining pages: South: St. Martin | West: British Virgin Islands

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Created December 8, 2005. Checked and revised January 10, 2024. Lighthouses: 3. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.