Meet Britain’s last remaining 'lighthouse keeper' who oversees a waterway 30 miles from the coast. Phil Austin, 83, has maintained his 35ft high red and white beacon on the banks of the beautiful Bridgewater Canal, in Grtr. Manchester, for 20 years.
The retired management consultant said he put up his stone turret as he was barred from building a conventional home by his planning authority. Britain's final manned coastal beacon, the North Foreland Lighthouse, near Margate, Kent, was vacated by Dermot Cronin in November 1998. And though Phil's tower has no strict maritime function, he still enjoys watching vessels from his lantern room as they navigate the waterway below him.
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