The present light was built in 1908-09 and marks Strumble Head, situated to the west of Fishguard Harbour. The 16.8m (55ft) high tower stands on the summit of a small island, Ynys Meicel, reached by an iron bridge from the north-east end of Pen Caer promontory, a conspicuous headland 8km (5 miles) north-west of Fishguard. This circular stone tower tapers from a diameter of 6.6m (21ft 6ins) above its base plinth. Its casement windows with protruding lintels have fine brass fittings inside. A plain string-course at the summit of the tower swells into an ovolo-moulded cornice with a heavy protruding band, and this forms the base of the gallery which has cast-iron railings consisting of three horizontal rails supported by uprights capped with plainly decorated finials. The lantern is original with a 4.14m (13ft 7ins) diameter lower iron wall topped by smallish diamond panes with the blind of the light made up of diamond-shaped iron panels. The whole is crowned by a flat dome with a vent and weathervane. The lantern contains a fine large Chance lens floating in a mercury bath. The illumination was changed from paraffin to electricity in 1949. A slate plaque in the lantern-room is inscribed with a verse from Psalm 127:

Except the Lord Build the House
They labour in vain that build it
Except the Lord keep the city
The watchman waketh but in vain

There is a water tank with a slate cover under the lantern-room. The stairs up the tower surround a large circular well. Paraffin to fuel the light was pumped upwards by a handle from a tank in the base of the tower which was filled from the mainland using an inverted syphon or `U-tube'. A novel feature was that one handrail of the bridge and steps giving access to the island was actually part of the iron U-pipe conveying fuel from a tank in the mainland to one at the same level on the island, parts of this apparatus still survive. An electronic tannoy fog-signal was installed in 1969. A `Blondin' cableway carries stores from the mainland. Below the lighthouse is a flagpole protected by a circular wall, diameter 5.6m (18ft 2ins). Today the tower is reached by an 24m (80ft) long aluminium bridge, replacing the original iron bridge in 1963.

Event and Historical Information:
A proposal to erect a lighthouse here had been made in the Trinity House Court Minutes for 7 July 1825 but it came to nothing. To some extent the present light replaced the light-vessel previously moored in the south of Cardigan Bay. Strumble Head is now an automatic light controlled from teh Operations and Planning Centre at Harwich.

Sources include:
Hague, D, 1994, Lighthouses of Wales: Their Architecture and Archaeology, pg65-6

WWW sources:
http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses/lighthouse_list/strumble_head.html

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, July 2013.