Maps

Aerial Photo by Marinas.com More images available

Photo by Mike Pennington

This disused lighthouse at Hale Head, to the south east of Liverpool, was built on the site of an earlier lighthouse dating from 1838 and was completed in 1907. It is now a private residence.

The original light was built 70 years earlier with a shorter stack. The tower is 45ft tall, or according to another source 58ft tall, the lamp was 70ft above sea level.

The lenses are in the Merseyside Maritime Museum. The 250 candle power lamp was lit by oil, and it is said that the beam was visible 40 miles away.

The widest part of the Mersey estuary is around here. The water is deserted now, though only a 100 years ago it was busy with shipping supplying the industries up river. There are sandstone outcrops and a small sandy beach.

During the Second World War, the beacon continued to shine. This attracted the attention of enemy aircraft, and bombs were dropped in the vicinity. On one occasion the keeper's wife was machine gunned, from the air, as she was opening the lighthouse shutters.

The light was extinguished "as an experiment" in 1958, but the arrangement became permanent and the equipment was removed. The lighthouse now forms part of a riverside private residence, it is not open to the general public. It is however a listed building.

It is a wonderfully isolated spot for walkers, cyclists and bird watchers, also for Killer Whale watchers, as one was stranded near here in October 2001. The Frodsham and Helsby Hills are across the water.

Photo by Mike Pennington 

Comparing with this old photograph you can see the amount of erosion that has occurred to the river bank, its now been necessary to build a wall to protest the lighthouse.

In this old photo you can see one of the light keepers and
the fog bell, is visible in both pictures.

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: Hale_head_lighthouse	Topic: Lighthouses	Last Updated: 06/2010

.