They replaced an earlier pair of lights established in the seventeenth century when Harwich was a key operational base for the Royal Navy.

[1] On 24 December 1664, Sir William Batten, Surveyor of H.M. Navy, was granted a patent allowing him to set up lighthouses in Harwich.

[2] Samuel Pepys (Batten's neighbour and contemporary) referred to this as 'the gift of a fortune';[3] it soon came to be resented by both Trinity House and the townspeople of Harwich.

Twenty years later his grandson Isaac Leming Rebow rebuilt the Low Light; it was initially lit by six candles, but these were replaced by an oil lamp in 1764.

As the end of the period of the lease drew near, a further extension of thirty-one years was granted to General Francis Slater Rebow, to begin on 5 January 1817; but only on condition that he build a new pair of towers and install up-to-date equipment.

[5] The High Lighthouse (which is Grade II* listed)[9] was leased to the National Vintage Wireless and Television Museum Trust in 1991 (having stood empty for a time prior to that date) to house their collection, which opened to the public in 1995.