Janet Raby, Keeper of Cockersand Lighthouse, 1943

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iBase ID

267072

Reference identifier

NLA20140808009

Title

Janet Raby, Keeper of Cockersand Lighthouse, 1943

Place

Cockersand

Personal names

Janet Raby

General notes

Janet Raby Keeper of the Plover Scar and Cockersand lighthouses. The lights were built in 1847 at the entrance of the Lune estuary to help ships navigate into the estuary, to reach Glasson Dock and then onwards via the Lancaster Canal to the port of Lancaster, with Plover Scar marking the rocky outcrop at the edge of the deep water channel into the estuary. Prior to automation the lighthouse keepers and their families lived in the base of the lighthouse structure, but this was later replaced by Abbey Lighthouse cottage on Slack Lane. The cottage still stands today. The Rabys maintained both lighthouses, walking across to Plover Scar at low tide. They were keepers for both the lighthouses for the first 100 years with Francis Raby in 1847, followed by Henry Raby in the late 1870s and finally Janet Raby and her brother Dick Raby who held the positions until the end of 1945 when it was taken over by the Parkinson family.

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