- * Berkeley Pill Range Rear (2)
- 1937 (station established 1906). Active; focal plane 11 m (36 ft); continuous
green light. 12 m (39 ft) square cast iron skeletal tower with lantern and
gallery. Tower painted black, lantern white; the tower also carries a slatted
white daymark under the gallery. Trabas has a photo,
a photo of the two range lights is available, David Collins has a distant view,
and Google has a satellite
view. The original light was on a wood post. Located on the south side
of the Severn, on Berkeley Pill in Hamfields, near Berkeley, about 175 m (190
yd) south of the front light. Site appears closed, but the lighthouse can
be seen from nearby. Operator: Gloucester
Harbour Trustees. Admiralty A5556.1.
- Trinity House Lightship 23 Planet (ex-Mersey Harbour Board Lightship Bar)
- 1959 (Philips & Sons Ltd. of Dartmouth). Decommissioned 1989. 40.5 m (133 ft) two-masted steel lightship
with light tower amidships, painted red. Barrie Mason has a 2011 photo of the ship at Liverpool,
Eirian Evans has a 2009 photo, and an August 2011 photo is available.
The ship served as
the Bar off the entrance to the Mersey from 1960 to 1972, when it was sold to Trinity House and designated LV-23. After serving several locations she was assigned as the Channel
from 1979 to 1989. She was the last manned lightship in U.K. waters.
Saved from the scrapyard in 1992, the ship was docked for many years in
Liverpool. The Mersey
Light-Vessel Preservation Society tried to raise funds to buy and
restore her, but in 2005 the ship was sold to a new owner, Gary
McClarnan. The preservation society then closed its operations. McClarnan
had the ship painted and berthed it in Liverpool at the Canning
Half Tide Dock. In 2008 McClarnan placed the ship for
sale for £139,000 and it was sold to Alan Roberts. Restored and repainted, the ship reopened in 2011 as a café and bar; it was also available for hire for special events. In 2016 Roberts launched a fundraising drive to raise £10,000 for unpaid past and future berthing fees. Apparently this effort failed and in September 2016 the Canal and River Trust seized the ship and towed it to a storage location at the Sharpness Docks. Ian Yarde's photo of the ship at Sharpness is at right and the Lighthouse Accommodations page for the ship shows it at that location. The Trust put the ship up for sale to settle its debts while preservationists petitioned for its return. In early 2017 the Trust announced that the ship had been sold, but apparently this sale collapsed. In 2018 Roberts was bringing a suit against the Trust for theft of the vessel. Phil Oates has a photo of the ship still at Sharpness in November 2021. Moored at Sharpness Docks in Sharpness; Google has a satellite view. Site and tower closed. Owner: private. Site manager: Sharpness Shipyard and Drydock. ARLHS ENG-065.
Gloucester City Lightship
- ** Humber
Conservancy Board Lightship 14 Sula (Spurn, Beaucette, Conwy, Haven)
- 1959 (Cook, Welton and Gemmell, Beverley, Yorkshire). Decommissioned 1985.
34.75 m (114 ft) steel lightship; round skeletal light tower with lantern
and gallery amidships. Entire vessel painted red. A 2023 photo is at right, Chris Allen has a July 2011 photo, Heather Craven contributed a 2019 photo, a 2023 photo is available, and Google has a September 2013 closeup street view and a satellite
view. The ship served its entire
career in the North Sea on the Spurn station, where it replaced Lightship
12 (now at the Hull Marina in downtown Hull). Sold in 1987, it became
the Beaucette, the club ship of the Beaucette Yacht Club in Guernsey,
Channel Islands. In 1989 the marina owners moved it to their marina at Conwy,
in North Wales, where it was known briefly as the Conwy. In 1990 it
was sold to the Milford Haven Port Authority in South Wales. Renamed Haven,
it was moored at the Milford Marina as a tourist attraction. In
1997 it was sold to English investors who planned to use the vessel as
an adventure center at Bantry in the south of Ireland. These plans did
not bear fruit and for most of the next decade the ship was moored off
Bear Island at Castletownbere, County Cork. Trevor O'Hanlon has a 2004 photo of the ship in Ireland. The ship was moved to a scrapyard in Waterford later
in 2004 but it was not scrapped. In June 2007 it was sold to new owners, Jan and Agnes van der Elsen,
who planned to use it as an alternative healing center at Gloucester. In November
it was towed across the Irish Sea to Sharpness Shipyard, near Gloucester,
for restoration and renovation. In March 2010 the ship was renamed Sula.
By the fall of 2010 the renovation was complete
and the necessary permits to moor the ship at Llanthony Quay in Gloucester
had been approved. Ceremonies opening the vessel were held in December 2010. Doing business as Lightship
Therapies, the ship offered holistic therapy and Buddhist meditation sessions. Gloucester Docks has a page created for the ship in this period. In April 2015 the Van der Elsens closed this business and placed the ship for sale at £575,000. City officials were hopeful that a buyer could be found to keep the ship at its current location, perhaps as a restaurant. As of September 2017 the ship was still for sale at the reduced price of £450,000; a portfolio of photos is available. In early 2018 the price was again reduced to £395,000. In July 2019 the Van der Elsens announced that they had a sale. The new owners renovated the ship to be a bed and breakfast and began accepting bookings in May 2022. Located on the west side of the canal between Llanthony Road and St. Ann's Way in downtown Gloucester. Site and vessel
closed. Owner: LV Sula
.
Forest of Dean District (Severn North Shore) Lighthouses
- Trinity
House Lightship 14 Helwick
- 1953. Decommissioned 1991. 36.3 m (119 ft) steel lightship; hexagonal
skeletal light tower with lantern and gallery amidships. Ship painted
red; lantern dome painted white. Eirian Evans has a 2008 photo. First assigned to the Kentish Knock station, the
ship served many stations over its career, ending as the Helwick off the Gower coast from 1984 through 1989. In 1993, as Lightship 2000, the ship became a Christian fellowship center moored near the Cardiff Bay Visitor
Centre in Cardiff Bay, Wales. Wikipedia has a photo of the ship near the end of this period. In early 2015 the ship was sold for a nominal amount and in May it was towed upriver to Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, about 16 km (10 mi) southwest of Gloucester. It was to become a "floating museum," but no information on the museum plans is available. In November 2015 the ship was moored a short distance downstream from Newnham; Google's more recent satellite view shows that the ship has been beached. Heather Craven's 2019 photo is at right. Current information is needed. ARLHS WAL-059.
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Lightship 23 Bar, Sharpness, October 2019
photo copyright Ian Yarde; used by permission

Lightship Sula, Gloucester, April 2023
Google Maps photo by LV14 Sula Lightship

Lightship 14 Helwick, Newnham-on-Severn, October 2019
photo copyright Heather Craven; used by permission
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