Point of Ayr Lighthouse

Cadw's description

Location

Situated at the water's edge approximately 0.75km west long the foreshore from Point of Ayr. Reached NE off A548, through Talacre and by foot over a short railed causeway.

History

Built in 1776, to the design of Joseph Turner of Hawarden, as a landfall light marking the entrance to the Dee Estuary, and constructed following the loss of 2 Dublin packets. The structure was modelled on a pre-existing Liverpool Docks Board light at Hoylake. Trinity House assumed responsibility for the light in 1819 and rebuilt the upper section with a new lantern light. The lighthouse was superseded in 1844 by a piled structure built close by, which was itself replaced by a lightship in 1883, but this has not survived.

Exterior

A whitewashed rendered brick three-storeyed tower tapering upwards from a black plinth; now slightly leaning. The structure is topped by a red-domed lantern with wrought-iron plates and vertical glazing bars, with a railed walkway projecting on moulded corbels. A round-headed doorway is above basement level. Each storey has wide segmental-headed windows. The optic has been removed.

Reason for designation

Listed as a well-preserved early lighthouse which retains what may be the earliest lantern in Wales.