The current Seaham Lighthouse was built in 1905 and stands at the end of the northern harbour pier.
In 1815, Anne Isabella Milbanke, a local landowner, married the poet Lord Byron at Seaham Hall. Though the town was once a small agricultural community, its future was transformed by coal and shipping.
In 1824, thirty vessels were lost off the coast near Seaham. Four years later, Lord Charles Stewart began constructing a new dock to export coal from his recently acquired land. Carved from the limestone cliffs, the new harbour received its first ships in 1831.
A temporary wooden lighthouse was built at the northern dock entrance, but it was destroyed by fire in 1835. Engineer William Chapman oversaw the construction of a replacement stone tower, 58 feet high, at Red Acre Point (also known as Lighthouse Cliff). The new light displayed a white revolving beam with a fixed red light beneath. William Fairless became Seaham’s first lighthouse keeper.
In 1856, a fire caused by the oil lamps destroyed the interior, and the lighthouse took a year to repair.
By 1905, increasing coal exports required the dock to be deepened and extended. During construction, the Red Acre Lighthouse was extinguished and a new cast-iron lighthouse was built at the end of the 1,400-foot north pier. The new tower, painted with black and white bands, stood 33 feet tall and originally featured a gallery, which was removed in the 1960s.
The Red Acre Lighthouse remained in place as a landmark until 1940, when it was demolished to prevent it being used as a navigational aid by enemy forces during the Second World War.
Today, alongside the north pier lighthouse, Seaham Harbour also has a 22-foot red mast on the south pier with a fixed red light, and a further 15-foot mast light to assist harbour movements. All the lights are maintained by the Port of Seaham.
The lighthouse is not accessible, but can be viewed from the nearby beach.
