The makeover will include painting the outside of the tower, replacing glazing in the lantern room and electrical work. This is part of a masterplan for St Mary's Island.

St Mary's Island otherwise known as Bates Island or Hartley Bates is traditionally the site of a chapel dedicated to St Mary. It is said to have contained a light to guide mariners wrecked on the treacherous shoals, and a bell with which they could summon help from the mainland.

The first record of anyone actually living on the Island dates from the late 1850's when George Ewen built a hut for his salmon nets. He gradually extended the building until it became his family home. In the early 1860's he opened part of the building as a beer house, which he and his son, John ran until the 1890's. Following their attempt to claim squatters' rights, the landownder, Earl Hastings, had the Ewens evicted in November 1895.

On August 1st the following year , Mr John Livingstone Miller, contractor of Tynemouth began work on the foundations of the new Trinity House Lighthouse. The lighthouse was first lit in September of 1898, replacing a light which had stood at Tynemouth Priory since the eighteenth century. At first the lamp was oil- fuelled,but an automatic electric lamp was intoduced in 1977.

The lighthouse continued in operation until November 1984 when it was considered no longer necessary for shipping with modern navigation techniques. Following a public fund-raising campaign , North Tyneside Council was able to purchase the building in 1987 and in March 1989 it was opened as a coastal interpretive centre.

Local studies Reference No. ACC 7045