Wyre Light (Fleetwood)

Wyre Light (Fleetwood)
The derelict Wyre Light in 2006
Borough of Wyre
Location offshore Fleetwood
Lancashire
England
United Kingdom
Coordinates 53°57′11″N 3°01′37″W / 53.953°N 3.027°W / 53.953; -3.027Coordinates: 53°57′11″N 3°01′37″W / 53.953°N 3.027°W / 53.953; -3.027
Year first constructed 1840
Deactivated 1979[1]
Foundation wrought iron piles
Construction cast iron screw-pile lighthouse
Tower shape hexagonal frustum structure with platform, keeper’s quarter and lantern
Height 4.9 metres (16 ft) (piles)
Focal height 14 metres (46 ft) (above half tide level)
Range 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi)[2]
Admiralty number ex A4888
ARLHS number ENG-171[3]
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.

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.

As of 26 July 2017, the lighthouse has partially collapsed into the sea.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wyre Light, Fleetwood engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 6 June 2016
  2. ↑ Wyre Lighthouse mycetes.co.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2016
  3. ↑ Wyre 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.
  5. ↑ "PICTURES: Fleetwood's ruined lighthouse partially collapses". www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2017.

Sources

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