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After weeks of planning, we finally made it to Hurst Point Lighthouse in Milford on Sea, Lymington. Primarily, the purpose of this trip is to shoot footage for our upcoming documentary but also to experience, first-hand, the atmosphere of a lighthouse and translate this into Keeper’s Veil.
The Hurst Point Lighthouse that stands today was built in 1867 at 26 meters tall, although, it is said that a light has shone there as early as 1733. It is also situated by Hurst Castle, an artillery fort established by Henry VIII in 1541 as coastal protection against France and Holy Roman Empire invasions.
After an hour or so of driving, we finally began nearing our destination, growing more giddy by the second as we began to make out the sight of a ghostly white lighthouse off in the distance. The sky was a dull grey - perfect for our footage - and the wind was howling - not so perfect for our audio - so we started filming right away.
The lighthouse can only be accessed by foot or boat, as it is located at the end of a 1.4 mile hook-shaped shingle spit; and so, we began the trek. It took us around 30 minutes of fighting against the ever-shifting pebbles under our feet to reach the lighthouse, but we shot about an hour's worth of footage along the way.
The ocean with the Isle of Wight in the background.
On one side of the spit was the ocean, where several fishermen were casting their lines out into the rough waves covered in rolling fog, and the other was a marshy wetland where small boats and seagulls alike were bobbing in the shallow water.
We were also lucky enough to make a friend along the way - a super sweet black Labrador!
A dog we met at the lighthouse.
A dog we met at the lighthouse.
This was the first time, I believe, that I had seen a lighthouse in person - at least as up close as we were - and the air held such a strangeness to it that I was not expecting to experience.
Hurst Point Lighthouse.
The setting and features that accompanied the lighthouse really were perfect for what we had envisioned for Keeper’s Veil - it was uncanny. As we approached the tower, we noticed a stone slab poking out of the grass; it looked like a headstone though, due to the eroded carved writing, we cannot be sure. However, this reminded us of our game’s narrative and the death of the Fisherman’s father - a lighthouse keeper. Furthermore, in the window of the lighthouse, there were three stones with painted messages, seemingly dedicated to lost loved ones. This coincided with a major inspiration for Keeper’s Veil, the Flannan Isles cold case, and the three lightkeepers whose lives were mysteriously lost.