Stoneness

Stoneness Lighthouse stood on a muddy peninsular south of West Thurrock Marshes, just east of the QEII bridge. The tower was a hexagonal lattice structure built by Trinity House in 1885 to mark a sharp point that sticks out into the northern edge of the River Thames, on a bend in the river known as St. Clement's Reach, opposite Greenhithe.

It is likely that when the lighthouse entered service it was an early venture on Trinity House's part into lighthouse automation - On the lower portion of the tower there was a cabinet in which bottles of Acetylene bottles were stored, and a sun valve mounted on the roof controlled the gas flow to the light, thereby automatically turning it off in daylight hours, and restoring the flow of gas in hours of darkness. When the light entered service, it's white light flashed for one second duration every two seconds. Later, an electric light was installed on the gallery, and this exhibited a green flash every 2.5 seconds. Never connected to mains electricity, the lantern roof was host to both solar panels and a small wind turbine which charged a bank of batteries in the upper portion of the tower.

In 2017 the prospect of repainting the lighthouse was considered, but concerns that the existing paint contained lead Starting on 29th September 2021, the Port of London Authority undertook a project to replace the lighthouse. Over the course of two weeks, and at a cost of £380,000, the tower was removed and replaced by a tall post with an LED light. The top half of the tower was removed by a crane on a jacks-up barge, whilst the lower section was cut-up on site.