The old lighthouse is set in the Flamborough Golf Course and it is approximately 800 yards from where the new lighthouse now stands. It was designed to have an open fire lit on top of it, although investigators have found no evidence of the lighthouse ever being lit.

The "new" Flamborough lighthouse was built in 1806 by John Matson of Bridlington without the use of scaffolding, is 85 feet tall and stands atop a chalk cliff 170 feet high.