Seaham

For just over a hundred years Seaham harbour was towered over by a 18 m lighthouse on Red Acre Point, designed by William Chapman.

Erected in 1835, it displayed a fixed white light above a revolving red light (an unusual configuration, provided so as to distinguish it from the north pier light at Sunderland).

Both lights were displayed from the same tower, the upper being 30 m and the lower 16 above mean sea level.

It was decommissioned in 1905, when the harbour was expanded and the current black-and-white striped pier-head light was constructed.

Red Acre lighthouse was left standing, however, to serve as a daymark, until 1940 when the whole structure was swiftly demolished in case it should serve to assist enemy navigators.