BRAUNTON LIGHTHOUSE: tapering towards the lantern and carefully hung with slates, is strongly shored up with metal-sheathed timbers, lest the stormy winds that blow pretty constantly in winter overturn it. The lighthouse-man, who spends his summer days gasping for air on the shady side, holds the infrequent stranger in converse as long as possible, and does not appear altogether contented with his existence on a spot where, he says, you cannot bear to sit down on the heat, which is strong enough to almost scorch your breeks, to say nothing of your person, and in winter dare hardly put your nose out of doors, on account of the cold. He will illustrate for you the especial dangers of this point, against which the lighthouse is placed here to guard, and will explain that, on account of the shifting, sandy bar of the river, there are two lights provided :the fixed one on his tower, and another, low down, on a movable white- and black-striped box on rails. This is moved backwards and forwards, according to the movement of the bar, so that ships entering the river and keeping their course safely, shall get the two lights aligned.

Title: The North Devon coast Year: 1908 Authors: Harper, Charles George, 1863- Publisher: London : Chapman & Hall, ltd.