Roker Pier And Lighthouse With Railings, Lamp Standards And Part Of Promenade

Roker Pier and Lighthouse, along with its railings, lamp standards, and part of the promenade, is a notable structure built between 1885 and 1903. The initial recommendations for the pier were made by Sir John Coode in 1876, and these were later amended by engineer Henry Hay Wake in 1882. The pier features a rubble and cement foundation, with a red and white granite construction for both the pier and the lighthouse, complemented by cast-iron railings.

The pier has a curved design, approximately 900 meters long, extending about 100 meters north from the promenade and curving southward from the wall. The rock-faced battered red walls of the pier are topped with large white granite ashlar coping, leading to a round-coped parapet on the promenade. Railings connect the higher sections, while a curved wall with steps leads down to the beach.

Steps ascend to a round platform of the lighthouse, which has incurving walls featuring smooth white and rock-faced red bands. The lighthouse includes an iron gallery with a high lantern, a secondary gallery, and a domed top. The stone surround for the steps and the metal door on the south side leads to four recessed fixed lights, one in each colored band. The lights set in red granite have alternating block white jambs, with the top three lights featuring glazing bars, while the lowest light is blocked.

The railings along the pier, extending from the promenade to the pier gate, are tapered and round, with lozenges at the center and top designed to hold renewed rails, bolted to the pier. Some lamp posts of the same design are incorporated into the railings. The seaward half of the railings has been renewed, except for those around the lighthouse. The foundation stone was laid on 14 September 1885, and the completion date is recorded on a stone dated 23 September 1903, noting that it was engineered by Henry Hay Wake for the River Wear Commissioners. This was the only one of two piers initiated by Wake that was completed, as the new South Pier was abandoned shortly thereafter. By 1903, this lighthouse was recognized as the most powerful port light in the country.