Wyre Light (Fleetwood)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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. The lighthouse was designed by Alexander Mitchell an Irish engineer who developed the screwpile concept. It was one of the first screwpile lighthouses ever built and inspired other similar constructions such as the Maplin Sand Light (UK) and the Thomas Point Shoal Light in the United States.

The 'Wyre Light' stood 2 nautical miles offshore on the 'North Wharf Bank', sandbanks which mark the 'Lund 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. long with cast iron screw bases 3 ft. in diameter. The six corner piles formed a hexagonal platform of 50 ft. diameter. (The seventh pile served as a centre pillar.) The platform supported the lantern and a two story building to house the keeper. Construction began in 1839 and the Light was lit on 6 June 1840. The light was destroyed by fire in 1948 and not replaced. After the fire, the Light was made automatic and eventually replaced by a lighted buoy in 1979