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ZQ - Chester Quarter Sessions

Repository	Cheshire Record Office
Level	Sub-section
Reference	ZQAP
Title	Point of Air Lighthouse Trust
Date	1775-1889
Description	This trust was established by an Act 16 George III (1776) c.61 entitled, 'An Act for erecting a lighthouse or lighthouses and landmarks in or near the port of Chester and for placing buoys upon the banks and shoals leading into and in the said port and for regulating of pilots and persons towing or tracking of vessels to or from the city of Chester and for fixing the rates payable for the same respectively'. This minute book contains the minutes of the public meeting on 24 Nov. 1775 and of the committee appointed then to promote the Act and raise money for the building of the lighthouse. It also contains the minutes of the trustees appointed under the Act from 1776 until they were abolished in 1889. These trustees according to the 1776 Act included ex-officio the mayor, recorder and aldermen of Chester i.e. the justices of the peace for the city, and one of these generally acted as chairman. This probably explains why this minute book was kept with the Corporation records and for this reason it has been placed with the administrative records of the justices.
Extent	1 volume
Administrative History	A public meeting in 1775 appointed a committee to promote an Act of parliament to build a lighthouse to protect the approaches to the Dee estuary. Trustees appointed under the Act of 1776 included the justices of the peace for the city of Chester, one of whom usually acted as chairman. The lighthouse built on the Point of Air was completed in 1777. The trust was abolished by the River Dee Conservancy Act, 1889 and its powers were transferred to the River Dee Conservancy Board.

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