The earliest aid to navigation was the Derbyhaven Light, established about 1650; Castletown Harbour Light was erected in 1765. Beacon towers were built on the Calf of Man, Douglas Head (now incorporated into the hotel building). Proper lighthouses came under the jurisdiction of the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, otherwise known as the Northern Lighthouse Board, based in Edinburgh, was formed in 1786 by Act of Parliament. In 1815 the government in London placed responsibility for the Isle of Man with this Board. The Point of Ayre Lighthouse was built in 1818, together with the first Lighthouse on the Calf of Man. These, together with the Lighthouse at Douglas Head, built in 1832 (and rebuilt to its present form in 1892) were designed by Robert Stevenson, who had first visited the Island in 1801. A further lighthouse on the Calf of Man superseded the first, but both were extinguished when the new Chicken Rock Lighthouse was opened on January 1 1875, designed by David and Thomas Stevenson. A much more recent lighthouse, built in 1968 has superseded this. The Maughold Head Lighthouse, the most recent of the original series, designed by David A and Charles Stevenson, was opened in 1914. The original lead light at Douglas was erected in 1760 but replaced by an oil lamp on a pole after the pier was destroyed.
Coastal Lighthouses
