New High Light

The New High Light stands on Dockwray Square in North Shields, a white-painted stone tower four storeys high. It was built in 1810 to replace an earlier pair of lighthouses that had guided ships into the Tyne for nearly two centuries. Designed by local architect John Stokoe, the tower has curved windows on three sides and a plain seaward face where the lantern once shone. A keeper’s house, rebuilt in 1860, sits beside it and still bears the Trinity House arms. The light was converted from gas to electricity in 1927 and could be seen for seventeen nautical miles. The New High Light worked with its partner, the New Low Light on Fish Quay, until both were switched off in 1999. Their powerful beams had guided vessels past the dangerous Shields Bar and Black Middens for almost two hundred years. After decommissioning, the towers remained as daymarks for mariners entering the river. Both are Grade II listed buildings and continue to mark the entrance to the Tyne. Visitors to Dockwray Square find a quiet corner of North Shields with the tower rising above cobbled streets. The keeper’s house is now a private residence, its plaque recording its 19th-century rebuilding. From the square there are views across the rooftops to the quayside and the river beyond. The site keeps the memory of the Tyne’s maritime past alive, standing as a reminder of how lighthouses once shaped the life of the port.