Thursday, May 26, 2011

St. Ives Harbour Pier, Old

Seems a strange location for a lighthouse, halfway along a harbour wall! Just drive down to the harbour at St. Ives (well, park at the top of the town and walk down) try and avoid the man with seven wives and you get two lighthouses for the price of one.
This is the older one, built halfway along Smeaton's Pier, at the point where the original harbour wall extended prior to 1890. It was actually built in 1830 (not by Smeaton, incidentally, who built the lighthouse now on Plymouth Hoe and deactivated in 1890 when the harbour wall was extended.

Below, the two lighthouses together on Smeaton's Pier. The old lighthouse was nearly destroyed by fire in 1996 but was restored in the late 1990s. A sign on the light warns potential divers not to jump from the balcony.

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