St Mary's Lighthouse

{{Short description|Lighthouse at North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England}}

{{Infobox lighthouse

| name = St Mary's Lighthouse

| image = St Mary's lighthouse from shore. - geograph.org.uk - 496897.jpg

| image_width =

| caption = The lighthouse in 2007

| location = St Mary's Island
Tyne and Wear
England

| coordinates = {{coord|55.071656|-1.449444|display=inline,title}}

| yearbuilt = 1898

| yearlit =

| automated = 1982

| yeardeactivated = 1984

| foundation =

| construction = brick tower

| shape = tapered cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern

| marking = white tower and lantern

| height = {{convert|46|m|ft}}

| focalheight =

| lens =

| currentlens =

| lightsource =

| intensity =

| range = {{convert|17|nmi|abbr=on}}

| characteristic = Fl(2) W 20s.

| fogsignal =

| racon =

| admiralty =

| managingagent = North Tyneside Borough Council{{Cite rowlett|engne|accessdate=2016-04-26}}

| heritage = Grade II listed

}}

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.

History

File:Site of Tynemouth Lighthouse plaque,Tynemouth Coastguard Station.jpg

The first light in the area was in Tynemouth Priory - an 11th-century monastic chapel, whose monks maintained a lantern on the tower to warn passing ships of the danger of the rocks. A lighthouse was built on the site of the current Tynemouth Coastguard station in 1664 using stone from the priory. This lighthouse was demolished{{Citation|last=Bolckow|title=Site of Tynemouth Lighthouse plaque,Tynemouth Coastguard Station|date=2010-02-27|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/bolckow/4409879741/|access-date=2022-02-25}} when the new lighthouse and adjacent keepers' cottages were built in 1898 on St Mary's Island by the John Miller company of Tynemouth, using 645 blocks of stone and 750,000 bricks. 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;s:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lighthouse 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.{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Robin |title=Lighthouses of the North East Coast |date=2014 |publisher=Halsgrove |location=Wellington, Somerset}}

As part of the electrification process the fine first-order fresnel lens was removed by Trinity House (it was later put on display in their National Lighthouse Museum in Penzance). Its place in the tower was taken by a four-tier revolving sealed beam lamp array, manufactured by Pharos Marine;{{cite journal |title=Inner Dowsing Goes Solar |journal=The Dock and Harbour Authority |date=December 1986 |volume=67 |issue=785 |page=195}} it was powered by two 12-volt batteries, charged from the mains electricity supply.{{cite journal |title=Briefing |journal=The Electrical Review |date=11 August 1978 |volume=23 |issue=6 |page=103}}

Decommissioning

File:St Marys Lighthouse at Sunrise.jpg

The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1984{{Cite web |url=http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse-display.shtml?p_ID=29091&p_subjectCategory=646 |title=North Tyneside Council |first=North Tyneside Council Marketing and |last=Communications |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom |access-date=17 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019095335/http://www.northtyneside.gov.uk/browse-display.shtml?p_ID=29091&p_subjectCategory=646 |archive-date=19 October 2012 |url-status=live}} (two years after its conversion to automatic operation). The revolving sealed beam array was reused two years later (in reduced form) on the Inner Dowsing light platform in the North Sea, as part of its conversion to become 'the first major lighthouse to be run using solar power'. In 1986 a blue plaque was created to record its early history.

A few years later, St Mary's was opened as a visitor attraction by the local council. In place of the original optic, Trinity House offered a smaller one from their decommissioned lighthouse at Withernsea, and this can still be seen at the top of the tower.World Lighthouse Society Fall 2004 Newsletter Volume 2 Issue 3

Following closure of the Penzance lighthouse museum, the original lens was returned to St Mary's in 2011 to be put on display.{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldwidelighthouses.com/Lighthouses/English-Lighthouses/Privately-Owned/St-Marys |title=St Marys Lighthouse | Worldwide Lighthouses |website=worldwidelighthouses.com |access-date=17 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103200115/http://www.worldwidelighthouses.com/Lighthouses/English-Lighthouses/Privately-Owned/St-Marys |archive-date=3 January 2015 |url-status=live}}

The lighthouse today

File:St Mary's Island, Whitley Bay (28372224455).jpg

Since 2012 St Mary's lighthouse has been grade II listed.{{PastScape|mnumber=1038989 |mname=ST MARYS LIGHTHOUSE|accessdate=17 November 2011}}

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 café. The cottage was upgraded with a wood pellet boiler in 2014.{{cite web |url=http://www.newsguardian.co.uk/news/local/firing-up-the-savings-at-lighthouse-cottage-1-6579951 |title=St Mary's Island Cottage |date=25 April 2014 |work=News Guardian |location=Whitley Bay |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307225046/https://www.newsguardian.co.uk/news/local/firing-up-the-savings-at-lighthouse-cottage-1-6579951 |archivedate=7 March 2016}}

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;{{cite news |title=St Mary's Lighthouse new £2m revamp plans unveiled |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-43183329 |work=BBC News |date=24 February 2018 |access-date=3 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411091827/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-43183329 |archive-date=11 April 2018 |url-status=live}} however the Heritage Lottery Fund later turned down North Tyneside Council's £2.1m funding application.{{cite web |title=Whitley Bay's St Mary's Lighthouse revamp plans are dealt a huge blow |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/st-marys-lighthouse-whitley-bay-15260628 |website=Chronicle Live |date=10 October 2018 |access-date=5 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306111410/https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/st-marys-lighthouse-whitley-bay-15260628 |archive-date=6 March 2019 |url-status=live}} In 2024 the lighthouse and keepers' cottages were repainted and general repairs were carried out.{{cite news |last1=Hall |first1=Daniel |title=Whitley Bay's St Mary's Lighthouse reopens to the public after £900,000 facelift |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/st-marys-lighthouse-reopens-whitley-30406459 |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=Chronicle Live |date=19 November 2024}}

=Other nearby lighthouses=

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 (it can be seen with the naked eye from the top of St Mary's Lighthouse).Personal observation Pierhead lighthouses at Tynemouth and South Shields mark the entrance to the River Tyne. To the north, Trinity House maintains two operational lighthouses on the Farne Islands.