page_title: Lightvessels in the United Kingdom
section_title: Former lightvessel stations
hierarchical_section_title: Lightvessels in the United Kingdom / Lightvessel stations / England / Former lightvessel stations
caption_attribution_description: Photo's of Hull The Spurn Lightship now a museum in Hull marina
context_page_description: The history of lightvessels in the United Kingdom goes back over 250 years. This page also gives a list of lightvessel stations within the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar.
context_section_description: Bar (Mersey Estuary; maintained by MDHB)
  Barrow Deep (Barrow Deep channel, Thames Estuary)
  Black Deep (Thames Estuary)
  Brake (Brake Sand, near Goodwin Sands)
  Bull (Bull Sands, mouth of the Humber Estuary; maintained by Humber Conservancy Board)
  Calshot Spit
  Cockle (North Sea)
  Cork (Cork Bank, off Harwich)
  Corton (North Sea)
  Crosby (Mersey Estuary; maintained by MDHB)
  Docking Shoal, Norfolk coast
  Inner / Outer Dowsing (North Sea; Inner Dowsing was the last manned lightship station, replaced by the Dowsing lighthouse in 1991)
  Dudgeon (North Sea; the Dudgeon lightvessel was bombed by the Luftwaffe on 29 January 1940. Only one crew member, John Sanders, survived. The incident was the subject of a 1940 British Government propaganda film, Men of the Lightship.
  Edinburgh (Thames Estuary; the name refers to the Edinburgh Channel)
  English and Welsh Grounds Bristol Channel (now a clubhouse in Bathurst Basin, Bristol)
  Falls (Dover Strait)
  Formby (Mersey Estuary, maintained by MDHB)
  Galloper (Galloper shoal, North Sea)
  Girdler (Thames Estuary)
  Gull (marked the Gull Stream on the Goodwin Sands)- was rammed and sunk on 18 March 1929 by the City of York, resulting in the death of Captain Williams of the lightship. In 1947 it was bought for £750 by Thurrock Yacht Club, and towed to Grays to become the club’s headquarters. It was last used as a clubhouse in 1971.The Gull was then abandoned and now suffers from regular acts of vandalism and degradation through river action.
  Gunfleet (Gunfleet Sands, Thames Estuary; replaced by Gunfleet Lighthouse in 1850)
  Hasborough (North Sea)
  Humber (maintained by Humber Conservancy Board)
  Kentish Knock
  Knoll (Smith's Knoll, North Sea) off Norfolk
  Leman and Ower (North Sea)
  Longsand (Thames Estuary)
  Morecambe Bay
  Mouse (Mouse Sand, Thames Estuary)
  Nab (Straits of Dover; replaced by the Nab Tower in 1920)
  Newarp (North Sea)
  Nore (Thames Estuary; the world's first manned lightship, 1731)
  North Goodwin
  Northwestern (Mersey Estuary, maintained by MDHB)
  Outer Gabbard (North Sea)
  Owers (Owers Bank, off Selsey Bill). Replaced with a beacon. (LV Owers now a wreck in Tel Aviv harbour)
  Royal Sovereign (off Eastbourne; replaced with Royal Sovereign lighthouse 1971)
  Shambles (the Shambles Bank, off Portland Bill)
  Shipwash (North Sea, off Harwich)
  South Goodwin lightvessel replaced the land based South Foreland Low lighthouse, also known as Old St Margaret's Lighthouse. On 25 October 1940, the South Goodwin Lightship was bombed by the Germans and sunk. The replacement lightvessel, LV90 sank on 27 November 1954 when cables to her two sea anchors broke in a hurricane-force storm, the worst storm in two centuries. The ship ran onto the Goodwin Sands close to the Keller Gut and turned on her side. The seven crew members perished, the only survivor being Ronald Murton an ornithologist from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The wreck of the ship can still be seen at low tide. The next replacement ship was decommissioned and was towed away on 26 July 2006.
  Spurn (Spurn Head). Maintained by Humber Conservancy Board. A former Spurn lightvessel is preserved at Hull Marina.
  Swin Middle (Swin Channel, Thames Estuary)
  Tongue (Tongue Sands, Thames Estuary)
  Lynn Well (entrance to The Wash); replaced with a LANBY (Large Automatic Navigation BuoY) September 1973
  Would (North Sea)
caption: Preserved former Humber Conservancy Board Spurn lightvessel
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