South Foreland Lighthouse stands on the chalk headland east of Dover, reached by a brisk clifftop walk from the National Trust visitor centre at the White Cliffs. The Victorian lighthouse was built in 1843 to warn ships away from the Goodwin Sands, a notorious shallow where hundreds of vessels have foundered over the centuries.
The lighthouse holds a significant place in the history of communications: Guglielmo Marconi used it in 1899 for the first wireless message sent across the Channel. The National Trust opens the lighthouse to visitors at weekends and during school holidays, with guided tours up the tower. The clifftop walk from the visitor centre is around 4 km and offers some of the finest views along the Kent coast.