The original lighthouse was constructed in 1879 after a group of local "clergy, ship-owners, merchants and landowners" appealed to Trinity House for one. It was built on Bull Point, though the Maritime Corporations of the Bristol Channelseaboard had lobbied strongly for it to be placed offshore on the Morte Stone. Bull Point Lighthouse was a two-storey round tower, high and wide, built of local stone and Blue Lias lime, and faced with Portland cement; it was topped by a large cylindrical lantern to give a total height of. Inside, the light-source was set within a revolving first-orderoptic, manufactured by Chance Brothers of Smethwick. The optic, consisting of three asymmetric lens panels backed by a dioptric mirror, was an early example of the application of group-flashing lens technology. It displayed three white flashes every half minute at an elevation of above mean high water springs. A fixed red sector light was also displayed, from a window in the tower, to mark the Morte Stone; this used light diverted by lenses from the landward side of the main light source. A fog siren was also provided, powered by two 12 h.p. caloric engines ; it gave three blasts every two minutes. The fog signal equipment was housed in a separate engine room, built on the seaward side of the tower. On the landward side of the tower, a set of dwellings were constructed 'for two married keepers and one married assistant'. The dwellings, tower and engine room were linked by passageways; they were set, along with gardens and outbuildings, in a 12,000 sq ft compound. In 1919 a new fog siren was installed, sounded through a pair of 'Rayleigh trumpets', together with a new set of Hornsby oil engines in the engine room. The light was electrified in 1960; at the same time a new optic, generator and diaphone fog signal equipment were installed, with the Rayleightrumpets being replaced by a set of rectangular exponential horns.
The new lighthouse
In September 1972 the headland on which the lighthouse stood subsided making the structure dangerous. Trinity House used an old light tower from Braunton Sands for two years whilst a new structure was rebuilt further inland. This was completed in 1974 at a cost of £71,000 and is currently in use; much equipment was reused from the old lighthouse, including the 1960 optic and fog signal. The sector light was also retained. It was fully automated from completion, stands 11 metres tall, has a light intensity of 800,000 candelas and can be seen for. The triple F-type diaphone foghorn was switched off in 1988, but inside the redundant equipment remains intact. The lighthouse was automated in 1995. The site can be visited by an adjacent public footpath. The old lighthouse keepers' cottages are now being let out to tourists as self-catering holiday establishments.
