Ramsey lighthouses need 'urgent' repair

Historic structures to undergo rebuild

The Infrastructure department is to spend £100,000 renovating Ramsey's two navigation lighthouses.

The pepperpot structures on north and south piers, which have served mariners for more than 120 years, are said to be in urgent need of repair.

The four metre high lighthouses will be dismantled for repairs to corroded and fractured cast iron panels, before a rebuild.

Work will start next week, carried out by local contractors, overseen by a specialist restoration company.

DoI bosses say without the repairs, the lighthouses could face the same fate as Port St Mary's - which was washed off the breakwater during a violent storm in January 2009.

The project's due to complete in spring next year and until then, temporary navigation lights will be installed on the piers.