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Leasowe Lighthouse

Leasowe, Cheshire

Location Guide

Photo by Roger Haworth 

The oldest lighthouse in the Liverpool area and the oldest brick lighthouse in Britain

Leasowe Lighthouse provided a line to navigators when viewed with Bidston Hill Lighthouse.

Leasowe Lighthouse was built in 1763 by Liverpool Corporation's Docks Committee (the forerunner of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board) and is the oldest brick built lighthouse in Britain. 

It was one of four lights on the North Wirral foreshore, the others being two at Hoylake and another, a lower light, at Leasowe. The latter was soon destroyed by the sea and was replaced by Bidston Hill Lighthouse in 1771.

The lighthouse was operational until 14 July 1908, with the only known female lighthouse keeper in those days, a Mrs Williams. It then became a tearoom for a period, but was unused until 1989, when it became base for the ranger service of the North Wirral Coastal Park.

It, like Bidston Hill Lighthouse, was not required after buoys had been laid to show the safe channel.

The lighthouse has 8 floors with one room per floor, starting from the bottom, store room, kitchen, living room, next 3 are bedrooms, store room and lamp room a spiral staircase goes right up to the lamp room.

Ownership  was assumed by the Wirral Borough Council in 1988 after it had been left to become a wreck, and restoration has continued since by the Friends of Leasowe Lighthouse, with council funding and  grant aid. The staircase is back in place and visitors can now go up. There is a visitor centre in the base of the tower, and funds are being raised to restore the upper rooms to their original appearance. The visitor centre was renovated in 2006.

Located on Lingham Lane in Leasowe Common in Moreton, about 8km (5 mi) west of Perch Rock Light; the station is included in the North Wirral Coastal Park.

Site open, visitor centre open daily, tower open to guided tours on the first and third Sundays April through September and the first Sunday of each month during the winter. For more information see Friends of Leasowe Lighthouse.

See Larger Image

Photo by Roger Haworth 
Bidston Hill Lighthouse

Photo by Harry Moon

An old postcard image of a camp by the lighthouse when in use, notice the difference in the lamp house design.


Lighthouse information Grid

Name:

Leasowe Lighthouse, Cheshire

Current status:

No longer in use since 1908 - open to the public

Geographic Position:

+53° 24' 49.10", -3° 7' 33.84"

Grid Reference:

SJ252913

Ceremonial County:

Cheshire

Appearance:

Round brick tower, painted white, lantern removed.

Map Link:

maps     Multimap/OS maps 

Bird's Eye view on Multimap.com

Aerial photo:

Multimap Aerial    Google

Other photos:

Geograph

Originally built:

 

Current lighthouse built:

1763

Height of Tower:

33.5 m  110 ft

Height of light above mean sea level:

 

Character of light:

 

Character of fog signal:

 

Range of light:

 

Owned / run by:

Owner: Wirral Borough Council

Site manager: Friends of Leasowe Lighthouse

Getting there:

 

Access:

 

Website:

Friends of Leasowe Lighthouse including opening times etc

Other Useful Websites:

Wiki

Routes:  
Other Relevant pages:

For more articles, lists and other information see the Lighthouses Section

Lighthouse Map of England and Wales

Featured List of Lighthouses - England and Wales  

List of Minor Lighthouses and Lights - England and Wales

Bidston Hill Lighthouse  

Notes:

 

Please let us know any other information that we can add to the Grid or page and any errors that you discover. Before making a long trip to any location it is always wise to double check the current information, websites like magazines may be correct at the time the information is written, but things change and it is of course impossible to double check all entries on a regular basis. If you have any good photographs that you feel would improve the illustration of this page then please let us have copies. In referring to this page it is helpful if you quote both the Page Ref and Topic or Section references from the Grid below. To print the planning grid select it then right click and print the selected area.

Please submit information on locations you discover so that this system continues to grow.

 


By: Keith Park   Section:  Lighthouses Section Key:
Page Ref: Leasowe_Lighthouse Topic: Lighthouses Last Updated: 06/2010

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