Ron van Maanen (photographs made July 2007)
Lighthouses and comparable ships were centuries long of the hightest importance for sailors to find a reliable anchorage, to avoid dangerous coasts and where the safest fairways were. In the Netherlands were several lighthouses, sometimes especially built for this purpose, sometimes church-towers fitted out to serve for this purpose.
The lighthouse at Noordwijk was designed by C. Jelsma and built by Van Splunder&Zoon in 1921-1922 with a height of 33m. The tower is built of reinforced concrete and bricks and replaced a lighthouse dating from 1854. Before 1854 there was a wood-built scaffolding with an light which stood still. It's known that already back in 1444 a beacon-light was available for the fishermen. Just like at Katwijk the lamps were only used when the fishermen of the village were at sea. The light has a strength of 38.000 candela and a visibility of 18 sea miles and is 3 times interrupted every 20 seconds.
