Aerial photo of St Mary's Island at high tide - geograph

St Mary's Island, sometimes referred to as Bait Island is a small

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

island near the seaside resort of

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

, England. It is a Local Nature Reserve. St Mary's Island was originally called Bates Island, Hartley Bates or Bates Hill as it was originally owned by the Bates family who were prominent locally, and the area of coastal mainland lying between the Brierdene Burn and Seaton Burn formed the township of Hartley. It is sometimes known as Bait Island, probably due to a misunderstanding of the meaning of the name. The island is opposite Curry's Point on the mainland and is connected to the coast at low tide by a rocky

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

for about 16 hours a day. The main feature of the island is

St Mary's Lighthouse St Mary's Lighthouse is on the tiny St Mary's (or Bait) Island, just north of Whitley Bay on the coast of North East England. The small rocky tidal island is linked to the mainland by a short concrete causeway which is submerged at high tide. ...

which was built in 1898. In medieval times there was a chapel on the island dedicated to St Helen. Within the chapel was the Lady Light, also known as St Katherine's Light. The light was later, wrongly, ascribed to St Mary and, as a result, the island became known as St Mary's Island. It is debatable whether the light was used as a warning to shipping or was purely religious. Next to the chapel was a burial ground where monks and local people were interred. Traces of St. Helen's Chapel were destroyed when the lighthouse was built in 1898. During the 19th century there was an inn, known as the 'Square and Compass', on the island, run by a Mr George Ewen. In 1895, after complaints about rowdy customers trespassing on nearby land, the landlord,

Lord Hastings Baron Hastings is a title that has been created three times. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1290, and is extant. The second creation was in the Peerage of England in 1299, and became extinct on the death of the first holder in ...

, had Mr Ewen and his family evicted from the island. The lighthouse continued to function until 1984, when it was taken out of service. The lighthouse is now open to visitors who can climb the steps to the lantern room, if they wish, or see the Visitors' Centre.

References

External links

Friends of St Mary's Island
History, photographs and descriptions of the buildings and island today. Whitley Bay Landforms of Tyne and Wear Islands of England Tidal islands of England Local Nature Reserves in Tyne and Wear {{TyneandWear-geo-stub