The construction of the lighthouse came out of the tragedy of losing a small Spanish coaster called the Juan Ferrer on 23 October 1963, on the nearby Boscawen Point, the vessel capsized with the loss of 11 lives.

There is a separate red fixed light that shows in the line over the Runnelstone Rock, shone from a lower window in the tower.

[3] Designed by Michael H. Crisp, the lighthouse was constructed with a completely automatic installation which was remotely controlled from the Trinity House depot in Penzance.

[1] In May 2022, as part of Trinity House's lighthouse modernisation programme, the revolving optic was replaced with static LED lanterns.

[4] The fog signal was originally a series (72 in total) of Tannoy units built into the lighthouse tower; they were powered by an alternator coupled to a 2-cylinder Ruston diesel engine.