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Green Point Lighthouse, Cape Town

Buildings and structures in Cape TownLighthouses completed in 1824Lighthouses in South Africa
Greenpoint Lighthouse close up
Greenpoint Lighthouse close up

The Green Point Lighthouse, Cape Town is an operational lighthouse on the South African coast. First lit on 12 April 1824, it is located on Mouille Point. The lighthouse was the first solid lighthouse structure on the South African coast and the oldest operational lighthouse in South Africa. The lighthouse was commissioned by acting Governor of the Cape Colony Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin and designed by German architect Herman Shutte. Building commenced in 1821 and was completed in 1823. The lighthouse started operating in 1824. The lighthouse cost approximately £6,420 pounds sterling to build. When the lighthouse was first lit, it burned Argand lamps fueled by sperm whale oil. The light from these lanterns could be seen for 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi). The lighthouse was expanded to its present height in 1865. In 1922, the range of the light house was extended to 22 nautical miles when 3rd order dioptric flashing lights were installed. Its present characteristic is a white light flashing every 10 seconds. In 1926, a foghorn was installed in the lighthouse despite a letter of complaint sent to the Mayor of Cape Town in 1923 by Green Point residents. Local Residents call the Green Point Lighthouse "Moaning Minnie".

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Green Point Lighthouse, Cape Town (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Green Point Lighthouse, Cape Town
Beach Road, Cape Town Mouille Point

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Wikipedia: Green Point Lighthouse, Cape TownContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N -33.901408333333 ° E 18.399941666667 °
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Green Point Lighthouse

Beach Road
8005 Cape Town, Mouille Point
Western Cape, South Africa
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Greenpoint Lighthouse close up
Greenpoint Lighthouse close up
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Mouille Point
Mouille Point

Mouille Point ("Mu-lee") is an affluent suburb of Cape Town, situated between the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and Granger Bay to the east, Green Point to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west. The suburb hugs the coastline and is dominated by high-end apartment blocks. It is a very small suburb, having only two major roads (Beach Road and Bay Road). It is home to the Mouille Point promenade, a paved promenade on the coast that is used daily by thousands of Capetonians. Behind it lies the Green Point Common, where numerous playing fields and a golf course are situated. The new Green Point Urban Park & Biodiversity Garden is just behind Mouille Point and has an entrance on Bay Road. The name "Mouille" comes from the French word for an anchoring ground. In the early 18th century ships were often swept ashore in Table Bay and the then governor decided that a breakwater (mouille in French) was needed to protect vessels at anchor. Work began in 1743. All farmers who delivered their goods to the city were required to load up their wagons with stones, drive out to Mouille Point and offload. Slaves and convicts were used to build the breakwater but after three years of labour and high seas, just 100m had been built and the project was abandoned. In 1781 the French arrived and built a battery near the unfinished mouille, naming it Mouille Point Battery. The Green Point lighthouse is located here but, despite this, on 1 July 1966, during a fierce winter storm, a cargo ship, the S. A. Seafarer, ran aground between Mouille Point and Three Anchor Bay. Everybody on board was rescued by helicopters of 17 squadron from AFB Ysterplaat. The Mouille Point lighthouse is no longer in existence. It was once located at the far end of the suburb, near Granger Bay. For many years (c. 1960s) there was, opposite the lighthouse, a drive-in roadhouse named "The Doll House", where people used to go for a snack and coffee during the day, or after a movie at night, which was served on a tray clipped to the window of the vehicle. The local seagulls became wise to this smorgasbord and many a patron lost his or her sandwich to a robber gull that had landed on the roof of the car.In the period May 2020 through February 2021 there were 17 apartments sold in the suburb at an average price of R 48987 / m².

Green Point Stadium
Green Point Stadium

The Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa was a multi-purpose sports stadium. Opened in 1897, it had a concrete banked cycle track, also occasionally used for motorsport, with a lap distance of a third of a mile - 586.6 yards (536.4 m) - and inside the cycle track was an athletics track. When it first opened it had seating for 1,000 people, and could accommodate 3,000 standing spectators. Prior to its demolition in 2007, it had 18,000 seats.Jack Rose twice held the world amateur human-paced hour record for cycling in 1898 and 1899, on the latter occasion riding 30 miles 606 yards in the hour at Green Point.The stadium was also used for cricket matches and for football, and was the home ground of Santos Football Club and Ajax Cape Town at different points. It also hosted music events including concerts by Janet Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Michael Jackson, Roxette, Whitney Houston, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, U2, Metallica, Paul Simon, Robbie Williams, and the Coca-Cola Colab Massive Mix. It hosted the 2003 46664 Concert for the benefit of AIDS victims.It was also used by local schools such as CBC, Ellerton, de Kuilen and Sea Point High School to host their annual inter-school athletics competitions. It was partly demolished in 2007 during construction of an adjacent new stadium, the Cape Town Stadium, built on part of an existing golf course for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The main stand of the rebuilt Green Point Athletics Stadium was constructed on the site of the old stadium's main stand. The stadium was completed in early 2013, and can seat 7,000 people.