Kaup is a small town on NH-17 about 7 Km South of the town of Udipi. The coast near Kap is formed by black granite rocks. There is a good sheltered beach in front of the lighthouse attracting a large number of tourists.
Prior to independence the region was part of princely state of Musore. The ruins of Kap Battery (of cannons) can be seen on one of the rocks close to the Lighthouse. It is one of the many such batteries and bunkers established at strategic locations by Tippu Sultan in the region and Malabar.
The existing lighthouse was constructed by British in 1901. The inside masonry lining of the tower has been raised up and serves as murette while the outside masonry lining supports cornice projection to form a platform around the murette. The second order optic assembly and PV lighting equipment with 55 mm burner supplied by M/s. Chance Bros. Birmingham was installed on the tower and was commissioned into service on 30th April 1901.The tower was painted white The lighthouse was visited by Mr D.Alan Stevenson the LH expert in December 1926. Mr. John Oswald, the Chief Inspector of Lighthouses had carried out his inspections on 1st March 1929 and 23rd November 1929.
In 1935 general improvements of the Lighthouse were carried out. The tower was at the time, painted with Black and white bands. The PV light source was replaced by 230V 400W Metal Halide lamp on 28th March 1996,which was changed to 3 X 70 W MH cluster lamps and UPS on 31st July 2003 .
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