When Decimus Burton laid out the plans for the town of Fleetwood, he designed two lighthouses two work in tandem to guide boats approaching the tricky sandbars of the Wyre Estuary. Officially they are the Upper Lighthouse and the
Lower Lighthouse, but commonly known as the Pharos Lighthouse and Beach Lighthouse.
The Pharos Lighthouse stands at 93 feet, visible for 12 nautical miles, and is the tallest structure in the town of Fleetwood which was once the third largest fishing port in Great Britain. It is a Grade II Listed Building with the following description:
836-40. Opened in 1840 (Preston Chronicle and Railway Magazine) and almost certainly designed by Decimus Burton. Cost £1,770. Ashlar. Red sandstone. Rusticated and vermiculated base, square in plan, battered, with clasping buttresses and moulded cornice. Door with "Egyptian" surround. Cylindrical stem with moulded base, 4 unmoulded round-arched windows and 4 oculi at top. Balcony on console- shaped brackets with cast iron balustrade. Summit octagonal with moulded cornice on console-shaped brackets, door with unmoulded surround and marginal glazing bars, planked opening on West side.
Listing NGR: SD3393748289
The follow description of these two lighthouses is given by Visit Fleetwood:
Decimus Burton was the architect who laid out Fleetwood, in its radiating grid pattern as a new town.
He also designed two lighthouses for the town, the Pharos and Beach Lighthouses, both opened in 1840, also known as the Upper and Lower lighthouses. They are both still fully operational.
The third one is the Wyre Light, built in 1839-40 by Alexander Mitchell, which stands offshore where the Irish Sea meets the estuary of the River Wyre on the northeast corner of North Wharf. This is also unique, because it was the first screw pile lighthouse to be built and lit in Britain.
North Wharf is a huge sandbank that stretches out from Fleetwood to the edge of the Lune Deep in Morecambe Bay. Wyre Light sits on seven screw piles, driven into the seabed.
Each year, the RNLI take a guided tour known as the ‘Wreck Trek’ out into the estuary to the Wyre Light, which stands in dangerous waters to the casual walker. Attended by hundreds of people, the guides navigate the crowd safely to the wreck, which is huge when you get to it, for a quick bit of usually musical entertainment, before making it back to shore before the tides return.
The Beach or Lower Lighthouse stands right in front of the North Euston Hotel, on the Esplanade. Around the base of it are seats built into the walls and it’s a well known local landmark on the seafront – which at this point is the venue for many a holiday maker or local person to sit a while and watch the view, or enjoy a leisurely stroll along the promenade.
Fleetwood Civic Society open the lighthouse each year as part of the Heritage Week events in early September, so you can actually go inside it and take in the spectacular view from the top.
The light from this lighthouse can be seen for nine miles, and is 30 feet above high water.
The Pharos, or to give it it’s official name, Upper Lighthouse stands on Pharos Street not far from where it meets North Albert Street, against the tram tracks and overhead power cables, and in sight of the seafront. It’s named after the ancient lighthouse Pharos of Alexandria.
Its light is 90 feet above high water, and the additional height means that it can be seen for 13 miles. It’s a quite huge structure when you’re stood underneath it, and another local landmark to orientate yourself in the streets of Fleetwood. It’s not surprising that there are 107 steps and a 10’ ladder to get to the top.
The two stone lighthouses on land are each built in the exact spot so that when ships had them lined up, with the taller Pharos lighthouse behind and above the lower Beach lighthouse, they knew that they had safe passage into the Wyre estuary and could dock safely at Fleetwood.
Finally, a Wikipedia entry offers a few more details about the Pharos Lighthouse (Fleetwood):
The Pharos Lighthouse (also known as the Upper Lighthouse) is a 93-foot (28 m) tall sandstone lighthouse situated in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The lighthouse was designed in 1839 by Decimus Burton and Capt H.M. Denham. Burton has been commissioned three years previously by Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood as the architect of the new town of Fleetwood. Construction was completed in 1840. Unusually for a functioning British lighthouse, it stands in the middle of a residential street (Pharos Street). Though officially named the 'Upper Lighthouse', it has been known as the 'Pharos' since its construction, after the celebrated ancient lighthouse Pharos of Alexandria.
The lighthouse was designed and constructed in conjunction with the much shorter (34 feet (10 m)) Lower Lighthouse (also known as Beach Lighthouse) which stands on Fleetwood sea front. The lighthouses are designed to be used as a pair to guide shipping through the treacherous sandbanks of the Wyre estuary. The light from the Pharos should be kept immediately above the light from the Lower for safe passage down the channel. Both lighthouses were first illuminated on 1 December 1840. The lamp is approximately 104 feet (32 m) above sea level, giving a range of about 12 nautical miles (22 km).
For many years, the lighthouse was painted a striking cream and red colour, but in the late 1970s, the original sandstone was again exposed. A tram-stop sits at the foot of the lighthouse. The lighthouse is managed by the Port of Fleetwood. The interior is closed to the general public.