Not for artistic interpretation and technical difficulty…
Entrance to Fowey Harbour by JMW Turner
These are features on land or sea used by mariners to find their way. That painting by J.M.W. Turner painted between 1826 – 28 makes it clear why the Gribbin Daymark built in 1832 has such huge red and white stripes:
‘For the safety of commerce and for the preservation of mariners’ as Trinity House put it.
Gribbin Daymark – white on the inland side
It’s 26m tall and painted on three sides. It never was lit but can be seen for miles around, distinguishing Gribbin Head from St Anthony Head. (More information here from the National Trust)
St Aldhelm’s Chapel
The tiny 35m square chapel on St Aldhelm’s Head on the Isle of Purbeck has been used as a navigation aid since the 12th Century. Steeples are also easy to spot and some churches have had lantern towers like St Nicholas Chapel, Ilfracombe.
Chapel of St Nicholas by Lawrence Wright
Another technique to keep ships safe is a warning light. The Old East Light at Whitby showed red if you were sailing in from the wrong direction.
Nowadays a lamp on the famous 199 steps to St Mary’s does the same job. Quite ingenious, I think.
And even cleverer are this pair:
Trinity House navigation daymarks on Gwennap Head, near Porthgwarra by Jim Champion
When the red cone covers up the black and white one, the observer at sea is right above the dangerous Runnel Stone. Similar pairs guide sailors into harbours – you line them up to find the safe way in. This can be quite tricky – see here in New Zealand:
Lining up the day marks in the Tory Channel (from Yacht Chamomile blog)
And all this came from one small entry in ‘England in Particular’ by Clifford & King (Common Ground)! Whatever next?