Visitors to the ‘Holy Island’ of Lindisfarne often wonder about the white pyramid they can see just off the island’s northeast tip. This conspicuous structure, built between 1801 and 1810, marks Emmanuel Head and is one of the earliest examples of a day marker – a navigational aid for shipping – in England and is evidence of just how treacherous the waters off the coast of Northumberland can be.
Life at sea in the 19th-century was not to be undertaken lightly and organisations such as Trinity House, a charity that had been created in the 16th century
