James Walker designed the lighthouse, which is a white square tower of sandstone, with walls more than one metre thick, surrounded by a turreted parapet.

The lighthouse was initially provided with a large (first-order) fixed dioptric along with a set of mirrors (which were replaced with refracting prisms ten years later); the lens was by Isaac Cookson & co. of Newcastle upon Tyne.

In 1854 red sectors were added, to warn ships of Hauxley Point to the south and Boulmer Rocks to the north.

[4] In 1891 both lights were made much more powerful; the main lamp was replaced with an eight-wick mineral-oil burner,[5] and its character was changed to occulting (being eclipsed for 2.5 seconds every minute).

[13] After its removal from the tower, the original 1841–1851 optic was exhibited (along with the old occulting apparatus) at the Trinity House National Lighthouse Museum in Penzance.