Wyre Light
The derelict Wyre Light in 2007
Locationoffshore Fleetwood
Lancashire
England
United Kingdom
Coordinates53°57′11″N 3°01′37″W / 53.953°N 3.027°W / 53.953; -3.027
Tower
Constructed1840
Foundationwrought iron piles
Constructioncast iron screw-pile lighthouse
Height4.9 metres (16 ft) (piles)
Shapehexagonal frustum structure with platform, keeper's quarter and lantern
Light
Deactivated1979[1]
Focal height14 metres (46 ft) (above half tide level)
Range8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi)[2]
Drawing of Wyre Light

The Wyre Light was a 40-foot (12 m) tall iron screw-pile lighthouse marking the navigation channel to the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire, England.[3]

History

The lighthouse was designed by Alexander Mitchell, an Irish engineer who developed the screwpile concept. It was the first screwpile lighthouse ever to be lit. Although construction of the Maplin Sands Light on the northern bank of the Thames estuary had started before Wyre Light, the latter was completed in a much shorter period of time.[4] These lights inspired other similar constructions such as the Thomas Point Shoal Light in the United States.

The Wyre Light stood 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) offshore on the 'North Wharf Bank', sandbanks which mark the 'Lune Deep' and the navigation channel of the Wyre. The Wyre Light along with a pair of on shore lighthouses, the Beach Lighthouse and the Pharos provided a navigational guide to shipping entering the Wyre estuary.

The Light's base consisted of seven wrought iron piles embedded in the sands. Each was 16 ft (4.9 m) long with cast-iron screw bases 3 ft (0.91 m) in diameter. The six corner piles formed a hexagonal platform of 50 ft (15 m) diameter. (The seventh pile served as a centre pillar.) The platform supported the lantern and a two-storey building to house the keeper. Construction began in 1839 and the lantern was lit on 6 June 1840. The building was destroyed by fire in 1948 and not replaced. After the fire, the beacon was made automatic and eventually replaced by a lighted buoy in 1979, leaving behind a derelict structure.

On 25 July 2017, the lighthouse partially collapsed into the sea.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wyre Light, Fleetwood Archived 4 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 6 June 2016
  2. ↑ Wyre Lighthouse Archived 29 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine mycetes.co.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2016
  3. ↑ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Northwest England". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  4. ↑ Tomlinson, ed. (1852–54). Tomlinson's Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts. London: Virtue & Co. p. 177. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "PICTURES: Fleetwood's ruined lighthouse partially collapses". Blackpool Gazette. 26 July 2017. Archived from the original on 27 July 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.

Sources

  • H N Denham, Sailing directions from Port Lynas to Liverpool... Mawdsley, Liverpool, 1840
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