The First Lighthouses

The system, completed in 1764, used two pairs of beacon lighthouses.  One pair, the Sea Lights, was used thus:  mariners manoeuvred into a position from which the two lights were seen to be aligned, one above the other.  They then sailed towards them along the safe passage known as the Horse Channel.  The other pair was called the Lake Lights:  when aligned, these indicated the safe way into the Hoyle Lake.

The North end of the Wirral peninsula viewed from the sea.  The Sea Lights and the Lake Lights are marked

The Sea Lights at Mockbeggar  (Leasowe)            The Lake Lights on the banks of Hoyle Lake

After about six years, however, the lower Sea Light collapsed.  In 1771 a surprising, but effective, solution was found by building a new lighthouse two miles inland, on Bidston Hill.  Its alignment with the remaining Sea Light gave the same bearing for mariners as had the old Sea Lights.  The lower Sea Light still stands on Leasowe Common.  It is the only one of the original set of lighthouses that remains.  It was built in 1763.  There is an apocryphal tale that it was rebuilt in 1824, but this has been proved to be false.

    The New Sea Lights