Point of Ayr Lighthouse

When two Dublin ferries sank in 1775, claiming over 200 lives, Chester’s aldermen scrambled to build Wales’ first lighthouse. Their 1776 tower guided ships through the treacherous Dee estuary for just 68 years before being deemed obsolete and decommissioned in 1844. That was 182 years ago, meaning the lighthouse has now stood idle for more than 2.5 times longer than it ever served its purpose, a monument to good intentions rendered useless by shifting sands and changing tides. In 2010, the owner installed a steel sculpture of a ghostly keeper on the balcony, honoring reported sightings of a figure in period clothing.

Trinity House took over management in 1819 and raised the tower, painting it in red and white stripes visible for miles, right before the whole estuary decided to move anyway. The lighthouse itself was sold into private hands in 1922, and its current owners bought it in 2012 for 90,000 pounds, a bargain for a building whose actual job now consists of standing still and looking haunted.