Maplin Sands lighthouse. 19th-century artwork of the screw-pile lighthouse built on Maplin Sands, on the northern bank of the Thames estuary, off Foulness Island, UK. This type of lighthouse is built on piles screwed into the sand or mud. It is thought that this lighthouse, designed by James Walker, was the first to be built to this design, proposed by Irish engineer Alexander Mitchell (1780-1868). Construction began in 1838, with the lighthouse operational by 1841. 21 metres high, it was octagonal in shape, with room for a lighthouse keeper and two assistants. It was eventually undermined and swept away in 1932. Artwork published in 'European Light-House Systems' (1875).