St. Mary's Lighthouse

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St Mary's Lighthouse
St Mary's lighthouse from shore. - geograph.org.uk - 496897.jpg
St Mary's Lighthouse
Tyne and Wear UK location map.svg
Lighthouse icon centered.svg
Tyne and Wear
Location St Mary's Island
Tyne and Wear
England
Coordinates 55°04′18″N1°26′58″W / 55.071656°N 1.449444°W / 55.071656; -1.449444 Coordinates: 55°04′18″N1°26′58″W / 55.071656°N 1.449444°W / 55.071656; -1.449444
Year first constructed1898
Automated1982
Deactivated1984
Constructionbrick tower
Tower shapetapered cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern
Markings / patternwhite tower and lantern
Tower height46 metres (151 ft)
Range17 nmi (31 km; 20 mi)
Characteristic Fl(2) W 20s.
ARLHS numberENG-145
Managing agentNorth Tyneside Borough Council [1]
Heritage Grade II listed
[ edit on Wikidata]

St. Mary's Lighthouse is on the tiny St Mary's (or Bait) Island, just north of Whitley Bay on the coast of North East England. The small rocky tidal island is linked to the mainland by a short concrete causeway which is submerged at high tide.

Whitley Bay seaside town on the north east coast of England

Whitley Bay is a seaside town on the north east coast of England. Historically in Northumberland, it is administered as part of the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear. It has absorbed the village of Monkseaton.

North East England region of England in United Kingdom

North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and the area of the former county of Cleveland in North Yorkshire. The region is home to three large conurbations: Teesside, Wearside, and Tyneside, the last of which is the largest of the three and the eighth most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom. There are three cities in the region: Newcastle upon Tyne, the largest, with a population of just under 280,000; Sunderland, also in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear; and Durham. Other large towns include Darlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, South Shields, Stockton-on-Tees and Washington.

Tidal island Land which is connected to the mainland by a causeway which is covered by high tide and exposed at low tide

A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands many of them have been sites of religious worship, such as Mont Saint-Michel with its Benedictine Abbey. Tidal islands are also commonly the sites of fortresses because of their natural fortifications.

Contents

History

The lighthouse and adjacent keepers' cottages were built in 1898 by the John Miller company of Tynemouth, using 645 blocks of stone and 750,000 bricks. It was built on the site of an 11th-century monastic chapel, whose monks maintained a lantern on the tower to warn passing ships of the danger of the rocks. A first-order 'bi-valve' rotating optic was installed by Barbier & Bénard of Paris, very similar to the one they had provided the previous year for Lundy North Lighthouse; [2] it displayed a group-flashing characteristic, flashing twice every 20 seconds. The lamp was powered by paraffin, and was not electrified until 1977; St Mary's was by then the last Trinity House lighthouse lit by oil. [3]

Tynemouth town and a historic borough in Tyne & Wear, England

Tynemouth is a town and a historic borough in Tyne and Wear, England at the mouth of the River Tyne, being 8.1 miles (13.0 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne. Historically part of Northumberland, the modern town of Tynemouth includes North Shields and Cullercoats and had a 2011 population of 67,519. It is administered as part of the borough of North Tyneside, but until 1974 was an independent county borough, including North Shields, in its own right. It had a population of 17,056 in 2001. The population of the Tynemouth ward of North Tyneside was at the 2011 Census 10,472.

Fresnel lens type of compact lens

A Fresnel lens is a type of compact lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.

Barbier, Benard, et Turenne (BBT) was a French company founded in 1862, specializing in the manufacture of spotlights, Fresnel lenses for lighthouses, and lighting systems. It was the world's leading producer of lighthouse beacons at the end of the 19th century. It dissolved in 1982.

Decommissioning

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1984 [4] (just two years after its conversion to automatic operation). At the time, its fine first-order fresnel lens was removed by Trinity House and put on display in their museum in Penzance. A few years later, St Mary's was opened as a visitor attraction by the local council. In place of the original, Trinity House offered a smaller optic from their decommissioned lighthouse at Withernsea, and this can still be seen at the top of the tower. [5] Following closure of the Penzance lighthouse museum, the original lens was returned to St Mary's in 2011 to be put on display. [6]

Trinity House private corporation governed under a Royal Charter

The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, known as Trinity House, is a private corporation governed under a Royal Charter.

Penzance town in Cornwall, UK

Penzance is a town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, in England, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about 64 miles (103 km) west-southwest of Plymouth and 255 miles (410 km) west-southwest of London. Situated in the shelter of Mount's Bay, the town faces south-east onto the English Channel, is bordered to the west by the fishing port of Newlyn, to the north by the civil parish of Madron and to the east by the civil parish of Ludgvan.

Withernsea Lighthouse lighthouse in Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, England

Withernsea Lighthouse is an inland lighthouse that stands in the middle of the town of Withernsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The lighthouse stands 127 feet (38 m) high and took 18 months to build between 1892 and 1894. Formerly owned and run by Trinity House of London, it ceased operation on 1 July 1976 and is now used as a museum.

The lighthouse today

Since 2012 St Mary's lighthouse has been grade II listed. [7] While it no longer functions as a working lighthouse, it is easily accessible (when the tide is out) and regularly open to visitors; in addition to the lighthouse itself there is a small museum, a visitor's centre, and a cafe. The cottage was upgraded with a wood pellet boiler in 2014. [8]

In 2017 a renovation plan for the site (including roof-top viewing platforms and various glass-covered extensions) was rejected by the local planning authority due to environmental concerns. A new refurbishment proposal (to include rebuilding the original optic) was presented in 2018; [9] however the Heritage Lottery Fund later turned down North Tyneside Council's £2.1m funding application. [10]

North Tyneside Council Local government body in England

North Tyneside Council is the local authority of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in Tyne and Wear and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of local government services in North Tyneside.

Another Victorian lighthouse may be found a few miles to the south of the River Tyne. Souter Lighthouse is also now decommissioned, and open to visitors. Souter Lighthouse can be seen with the naked eye from the top of St Mary's Lighthouse. [11]

Souter Lighthouse lighthouse

Souter Lighthouse is a lighthouse located in the village of Marsden in South Shields, Tyne & Wear, England. Souter was the first lighthouse in the world to be actually designed and built specifically to use alternating electric current, the most advanced lighthouse technology of its day. First lit in the 1870s, Souter was described at the time as 'without doubt one of the most powerful lights in the world'.

See also


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References

  1. ↑ St. Mary's The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 26 April 2016
  2. ↑ Wikisource:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lighthouse
  3. ↑ Jones, Robin (2014). Lighthouses of the North East Coast. Wellington, Somerset: Halsgrove.
  4. ↑ http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse-display.shtml?p_ID=29091&p_subjectCategory=646
  5. ↑ "World Lighthouse Society Fall 2004 Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 3".Missing or empty |url= (help)
  6. ↑ "Worldwide lighthouses website".
  7. ↑ Historic England. "ST MARYS LIGHTHOUSE (1038989)". PastScape. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  8. ↑ "St Mary's Island Cottage". News Guardian . Whitley Bay. 25 April 2014. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "St Mary's Lighthouse new £2m revamp plans unveiled". BBC News. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  10. ↑ "Whitley Bay's St Mary's Lighthouse revamp plans are dealt a huge blow". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  11. ↑ Personal observation
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