Maryport is said to have possessed a small lighthouse in 1796; five years later Robert Stevenson described it in a report as an oil lamp with two reflectors.[2]
19th century
In 1833 an Act of Parliament granted permission for a dock to be built at Maryport together with a new pier and lighthouse. Construction was overseen by a new board of trustees
and the pier, complete with its lighthouse, was in place by 1846.[3] Both remain in situ and the light is said to be
the UK's oldest cast iron lighthouse (though it no longer serves as a navigation light).[4] It is 36 feet (11 m) high and consists of an octagonal metal plinth, column and lantern on top of a rusticated stone base.[1] It was originally gas-lit.[5]
Subsequently, the harbour continued to expand. In 1852, following a storm, the south pier (on which the lighthouse stands) was extended,[6] and a new light was provided at the end of the pier extension (described as a lantern on a post, lit by three gas jets) with a range of 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi). The lighthouse thereafter served as a tidal light, being lit at night only for as long as there was 8 ft (2.4 m) of water within the harbour; (during the day it exhibited a red spherical day mark to signify the same).[5] In 1858 the Harbour Trustees commissioned James Chance to manufacture a small (fourth-order) fixed optic for the lighthouse,[7] which gave the tidal light a range of 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi).[8] The previous year, following completion of the Elizabeth Dock, additional (minor) lights had been installed on the north tongue and south jetty, within the harbour, coloured green and red respectively.[5]
20th century
By 1946 the light was powered by acetylene. The painter L. S. Lowry used Maryport and the lighthouse in several of his paintings.[9] Trinity House took charge of it in 1961.
In 2010 Trinity House transferred responsibility for the new light to the Maryport Harbour Authority.[12] The old lighthouse was restored and repainted in 2017 as part of a government-funded initiative for the refurbishment of seaside towns.[13] Maryport Lighthouse was recognised during the 370th Council Meeting of the Round Table of Britain and Ireland.
