The structure, which was completed in 1873, was most likely designed by Victorian civil engineer John Hawkshaw after he took control of Holyhead harbour works in 1857.[3] The lighthouse was the last major building completed on the breakwater.[4]
The three-storey black and white tower, unlike many contemporary lighthouses, is square.[3] It measures 22.25 feet (6.78 m) on each side, is 63 feet (19 m) high and rests 70 feet (21 m) above the high-water mark.[4] It has chamfered angles and a stepped plinth set on an oval platform on the breakwater.[3] A square design was chosen because it made the living quarters more comfortable.[4] Much of the original living accommodation inside remains intact.[4]
The tower's external features include a roll-mouldedstring-course projecting above the first floor level. There is also a moulded cornice which supports a walkway around a circular glass-housed light. The tower is surmounted by a weathervane and finial.[3] The enclosed fresnel lens creates a light with a range of 14 mi (12 nmi; 23 km).[3][4] This lighthouse is considered architecturally important because it forms part of the ambitious Victorian engineering works to create "harbours of refuge" throughout Great Britain.[3]
In the 19th century, packet ships approaching Holyhead in the fog would be warned by a bell operated from the lighthouse. In the late 1870s, this was supplemented with rockets which would complement the gun fired from the fog warning station on North Stack, Anglesey.[5]
The lighthouse was manned until November 1961, when it was automated. Among the last keepers in the 1950s were Arthur Burgess and David John Williams. The latter later became a speaker for Trinity House giving talks on the service.[4] Like most other lights in Gwynedd, it is now operated from Trinity House's Holyhead Control Centre.[3] Today the upkeep of the lighthouse is the responsibility of Holyhead port authority, which is operated by Stena Line.[4]
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