BIDSTON HILL LIGHTHOUSE
NORTH WEST COAST ENGLAND
ARLHS # ENG-009
CLICK ON TO ENLARGE ANY
PHOTOGRAPH
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL NEWMAN ....M0BNN
I have activated this lighthouse 2
times between 15th August 2003 and 22nd December 2004 as
M0BNN/p
AMATEUR RADIO LIGHTHOUSE SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP # 0238
In the 1999 & 2000 also 2001/2/3/4/5 International Lighthouses and Lightships Weekend
, Wirral Amateur Radio Society where able to operate from the
lamp room with the call sign GB2BHL
For amateur radio/ham operators the W.A.B. SJ 29 ... Lat/Long 53. 24.2N 03. 4.4W
Bidston Hill Lighthouse is located in the grounds of the
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory near Birkenhead , Merseyside,
England. The Proundman Oceanographic Laboratory supplied tidal
information to Great Britains OLYMPIC 2000 medal winning yachtsmen in
Australia
Bidston lighthouse
1771
LAMPROOM BIDSTON HILL
LIGHTHOUSE
On June 5th. 1771 the Dock Trustees were directed " to
treat with Mr. Vyner about the site and the erection of a Lighthouse
on Bidston Hill", and in the same year the work commenced. It was
built of dressed stone, octagonal in shape, 55 feet/18 metres high
and situated a few yards south of the present lighthouse. The
building had five floors, the top one being the lantern room 16 feet
6 inches / 5 metres high where there was an access door on to a
gallery , supported on heavy stone brackets, with a cast-iron railing
running all round the outside. The walls of the building were
battered back by 4 inches at each floor, and each floor level had a
single window facing the town of Birkenhead.
Capt. William Hutchinson was appointed in 1759 as one of
its Liverpool Dockmasters. Born in Newcastle on Tyne, he was a no
nonsense privateer, author of two nautical publications, developer of
oil lights and the worlds first parabolic reflector for use in
lighthouses. William Hutchinson had also gathered observations of
winds and tides that led to the well-known Holden's Tide tables,
which only ceased publication in the 1970s when they were replaced by
Laver's. Whilst it is assumed that the first Wirral lighthouses may
have burnt coal as an illuminant, it is more definite that the first
Bidston Lighthouse of 1771 used oil. Hutchinson was experimenting
with reflectors as early as 1763 and there is a reference in the
Liverpool Council meetings that a reflecting mirror was erected at in
that year at the Bidston signal station. The station had been erected
in 1763 from wood, to a design of Mr. Lightholler. Hutchinson's
original reflectors are preserved at Trinity House, London.
In 1801 Mr. Robert Stevenson the celebrated lighthouse
engineer, referred to Bidston and said "the light is from oil, with
one reflector of silvered glass 13 feet and 6 inches in diameter with
a four foot focus. The immense reflector is lit by one large cotton
wick which consumes one gallon of oil every four hours". The light
was a fixed white light, the same as at Leasowe lighthouse, and it
could be seen 21 miles. A cowl fixed to the lead roof and a copper
flue pipe extracted the fumes from the oil light and ventilated the
lantern room.
Bidston Lighthouse
1872
The original Bidston Lighthouse was demolished by the
Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1872. It was replaced by a more
modern structure, , with the most powerful diotropic light of the
day. the building was completed in 1873 and during construction a
temporary light was shown on the roof of the Telegraph office.
The 1872 lighthouse, with Keepers cottages, exists today.
Built in stone blocks with a " rock face " finish, it has four floors
connected by a spiral stone staircase to the third level and
thereafter by a steep wooden staircase to the lamp room. this lamp
room has an enormous window, in line with Leasowe lighthouse, and
there is access to an external gallery with a cast-iron railing all
round the upper structure.
With the advance of technology in marine navigation and
the installation of bouys showing the channel into Liverpool, the
Lighthouse became obsolete and the light was discontinued on October
9th. 1913, 5 years after the Leasowe light was closed down on July
5th, 1908.
The above information courtesy of Proudman Oceanographic
Laboratory and Joy Hockey
Latest information: Money found for some renovation , some work
already carried out in Lamp room, more to follow
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LAST UPDATE 12th DECEMBER 2005
