Editing Spurn (section)

===Old High and Low Lights===
There is evidence that [[Hull Trinity House]] maintained beacons on Spurn Head in the 16th century, but these were unlit seamarks. Demands for a light on the spit grew over the following century, and in the 1670s the (disputed) landowner, Justinian Angell, set about erecting a pair of lighthouses; he was granted a patent to levy dues for the lights on 25 October 1675.<ref name="deBoer1968" /> Angell's high light lasted for just over a century, but the low light had to be rebuilt on several occasions. Over time, the lights gained a reputation for being unreliable, and in 1766 an [[Act of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Act of Parliament]] was passed 'for taking down and removing certain Lighthouses now standing near the Spurn-Point at the mouth of the Humber, and for erecting other fit and convenient lighthouses instead thereof'.<ref name="deBoer1968" />

[[File:The Spurn Lighthouses (archive ref PH-2-263) (37087370005).jpg|thumb|left|John Smeaton's High Light and John Shaw's Low Light (engraving by [[Henry Gastineau|H. Gastineau]], 1829).]]
In 1767, therefore, [[John Smeaton]] was commissioned to build a new pair of lighthouses; the work was jointly overseen by the London and Hull Trinity Houses (albeit the Angell family would continue to receive the dues once the work was complete). They were first lit on 5 September 1776. Smeaton's high light (a {{convert|90|ft|m|disp=sqbr|adj=on}} red-brick tower) remained in use until 1895, but there were problems (as there had been in previous years) with maintaining the low light, and after only a year or two it was washed away during a heavy storm.<ref name="deBoer1968">{{cite book |last1=de Boer |first1=G. |title=A History of the Spurn Lighthouses |date=1968 |publisher=East Yorkshire Local History Society |location=Beverley |pages=53–68 |edition=2nd |url=http://www.eylhs.org.uk/dl/133/a-history-of-the-spurn-lighthouses |access-date=6 April 2025}}</ref> In its place, a moveable wooden [[swape]]-style light was used for a number of years. By 1815 the swape was much decayed and the light had become unreliable, so the following year a new Low Lighthouse was built (a {{convert|50|ft|abbr=on}} brick tower, designed by [[John Shaw Sr.|John Shaw]]); it was first lit on 25 November 1816.<ref name="deBoer1968" /> In November 1829, however, a storm severely undermined the foundations of Shaw's tower, and two months later it was decommissioned. In its place a moveable wooden tower was used for the low light, which remained in use until it too was swept away in a storm, in March 1851. The following year, a new Low Lighthouse was constructed in stone, designed by [[James Walker (engineer)|James Walker]] and built under the supervision of engineer [[Henry Norris (engineer)|Henry Norris]].<ref name="Report">{{cite web | title = Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 2 | year = 1861 | pages = 69 | url = https://archive.org/stream/lighthousemanage02blak#page/69/mode/1up }}</ref> Unlike its predecessors, this low light was built on the estuary side (i.e. to the west) of the high light, rather than on the seaward side.

====Lighting arrangements====
[[File:Spurn Low Lighthouse.JPG|thumb|left|James Walker's new (1852) Low Light, while still operational.]]
Initially both lighthouses were coal-fired. When the low light was rebuilt in 1816, it was equipped with [[Argand lamp]]s and [[Parabolic reflector|reflectors]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=17192 |date=16 November 1816 |page=2172 }}</ref> As a result, it outshone the high light; so in 1819 Smeaton's high tower was likewise fitted with Argand lamps and reflectors (24 in number).<ref name="Report" /> 

The wooden low light, in use after 1830, had a smaller lantern than its predecessor;<ref name="deBoer1968" /> in 1848, it was equipped with a small [[Fresnel lens]] (a fifth-order [[Lenticular lens|lenticular dioptric]]) and this was reused, in Walker's tower, when the low light was rebuilt in 1852.<ref name="Report" /> The following year, a Fresnel lens was installed in Smeaton's tower (the high light): this was a large ([[Fresnel lens#Lighthouse lens sizes|first-order]]) fixed optic, made by Henry Lepaute of Paris. (Prior to installation this lens had been exhibited at the [[Great Exhibition of 1851]]).<ref>{{cite web | title = Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 1 | page = 30 | url = https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/8037/80373343.23.pdf }}</ref> In 1867 a red [[Sector light|sector]] was added, which warned ships of hazards to the south ranging from [[Cleethorpes|Clee Ness]] to Sand Haile Flats;<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23255 |date=24 May 1867 |page=3000 }}</ref> (initially applied to the low light, it was moved to the high light in 1871).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23691 |date=27 December 1870 |page=5920 }}</ref> The high light was made [[Occulting Light|occulting]] (once every half minute) in 1883.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25244 |date=22 June 1883 |page=3213 }}</ref>

====Decommissioning of the High and Low Lights====
[[File:Spurn Lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 309594.jpg|180px|thumbnail|right|The former Low Light (1852) with the "new" (1895) lighthouse behind it]]
In 1895 both Walker's low light and Smeaton's high light were decommissioned; they were replaced by a single lighthouse, which still stands on the grass of Spurn Head. The 1852 low light also still stands on the sandy shore of the island, though its lantern has been replaced by a large water tank; the tower served for a number of years as an explosives store. Of the old Smeaton high light only the foundations remain <ref name="deBoer1968" /> (after dismantling, its optic was re-used in the high lighthouse at [[Nash Point Lighthouse|Nash Point]], where it was installed as part of a programme of improvements).<ref name="MMF1896">{{cite book |title=Mercantile Marine Fund: Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Committee of Inquiry appointed by the President of the Board of Trade |date=1896 |publisher=HMSO |location=London |page=281 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/_/mgBQAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PPn281 |access-date=8 April 2025}}</ref> Keepers' cottages had been constructed within the circular compound of the old High Lighthouse, and these remained in use after its demolition up until the 1950s.<ref name="deBoer1968" />