Seaton Carew lighthouse

Seaton Carew lighthouses were a pair of leading light towers built in Seaton Carew to guide ships into the River Tees. The low light was demolished over a century ago and what remained of the high light has been rebuilt in Hartlepool Marina.Under increasing commercial pressure from the docks at West Hartlepool the Tees Navigation Company decided to improve access to the River Tees by providing a pair of leading lighthouses (navigation light towers) on the coast at Seaton Carew. These were not the first lighthouses in Seaton Carew as there is evidence of an earlier lighthouse in the 15th century.Seaton Carew Low LightThe Low Light was on what is now Coronation Drive on the sea front at the junction with Lawson Road. The Low Light was a tall hexagonal tower with the base at a height of above mean high tide and exhibited a fixed red light. The Hartlepool steel works of South Durham Steel and Iron Company was built to the north of Seaton Carew low light. In a Board of Trade report into the grounding of the Vine in January 1877 off the mouth of the Tees it was claimed that the glow from the furnaces of the nearby steel plant may have been mistaken for the red low light.Seaton Carew High LightThe High Light and cottages were 1189yards inland to the west at the end of Windermere Road in what is now the Longhill Industrial Estate in Hartlepool north of Tees Bay Retail Park. The High Light was a 70ft tall Tuscan column of ashlar sandstone built in 1838 with the base at a height of 89ft above mean high tide. The High Light contained a newel helical stair lit by slit windows between the masonry blocks. The High Light also known as the Longhill Lighthouse, exhibited a fixed white light.