Bidston Lighthouse and Lighthouse Cottages is a Grade II listed building in the Wirral local planning authority area, England. First listed on 8 December 1989. Lighthouse. 4 related planning applications.
Bidston Lighthouse and Lighthouse Cottages
- WRENN ID
- far-corbel-honey
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Wirral
- Constituency
- Birkenhead MP: Alison McGovern (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 8 December 1989
- Type
- Lighthouse
- Address
- Bidston Lighthouse and Lighthouse Cottages, CH43 7RA
- OS grid reference
- SJ 286 899
- Coordinates
- 53.40111, -3.07425
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Bidston Lighthouse and Lighthouse Cottages were built in 1873 by the Mersey Dock Estate to aid navigation into the Mersey estuary, as part of a wider system of coastal aids. The lighthouse tower is constructed of rusticated ashlar, with a sheet metal roof and a conical cap housing the light chamber. It has three stages, with recessed sash windows on each stage, and a doorway on the west side bearing the inscription 'Mersey Dock Estate 1873'. The lowest stage of the tower is battered, with a corbelled walkway supported by consoles and fitted with railings. A modillion eaves cornice adorns the light chamber. The tower is topped with a metal roof roundel finial. Attached to the east of the lighthouse is a range of single-storey cottages with hipped Welsh slate roofs, paired sash windows, and rusticated stone stacks. These cottages provided accommodation for the lighthouse keeper's family and the observatory groundsmen.
Local climate
Bidston Lighthouse and Lighthouse Cottages sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,100 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 87% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 78% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 17 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 83% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2013
- Related listed building consents — 4 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Great Ormes Head Lighthouse
- 2 Upper (East) Lighthouse and attached Keepers' Houses, walls and ancillary buildings
- 3 Foreland Point Lighthouse and Adjoining Retaining Walls
- 4 Lighthouse (Marking Entrance from Mersey Estuary to Shropshire Union Canal, before Ship Canal was built)
- 5 Lower (West) Lighthouse with attached keeper's houses, walls and ancillary buildings
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Perimeter Wall to Observatory and Lighthouse, with Entrance to West
- Bidston Observatory
- Enclosing Wall to Rear Garden
- Farm Buildings at Bidston Hall Farmhouse
- Bidston Hall
- Enclosing Wall and Gateway to Forecourt of Bidston Hall
- Yew Tree Farmhouse
- Stable Range at Yew Tree Farm
- The Lilacs
- Former Outbuildings at the Lilacs