Range Lights

There are 40 (20 pairs) of range lights in the PEI lighthouse family.  Each pair of range lights includes a front range and a rear range and mark the entrance to a harbour.  Range lights were used by boat captains to pilot their craft safely into harbour by visually lining up the front and rear range lights to get their heading.  For this reason, the front range is typically shorter and the rear range is taller. Range lights often have a vertical red stripe on them as day marks to help the pilot visually line up the pair of lights to find their heading.

One range light – Leard’s Front Range in Victoria-by-the-Sea has been converted to the Victoria Seaport Museum.

Leard's Back Range Light

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The Leard's Back Range is a square tapered tower 13.7m ( 45') in height from base to vane. The tower has a broad base and steeply sloping sides topped by a wooden lantern. The superimposed lantern deck is surrounded by a metal railing and supported by metal brackets.

The navigation light shone through a single window facing seaward. A bright red daymark extends from this window to the top of the classically pedimented door. The windows are topped with a shed dormer.
The interior is unfinished so the light timber framing can easily be seen. Narrow stairs extending to the top have several platforms where the keeper could rest while carrying oil to the top.

Driving Directions:

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Red Sands Shore Drive - From Highway 1, roughly 19km (12 miles) east of Confederation Bridge, exit south towards Victoria, following Nelson Street. The Leards Back Range Light is set back from the road on your left.

GPS Coordinates: 46.22 08.2N -63.4 92 22W

Technical Data
  • Status: Decommissioned
  • FHBRO Number: 90-118
  • LOL number: 1009
  • Date Built: 1878
  • Electrification and De-staffing Dates: Decommissioned in August 2011
  • Focal Height: 30.8m, 101'
  • Light: Had a green fixed light.
  • Tower height: 13.7m, 45'
Historic Data

The first back range light in Victoria was established in 1879 when a beacon on a mast which attached to Solomon Leard's house. In 1895, the beacon was moved to the keeper's garden as strong gales were damaging his house.

Later the light was shown from a dormer window in the keeper's house. When the keeper passed away in 1901, the current tower was built 61 meters (200 feet) from the keeper's house. according to FHBROReport #90-118, "...it might have been an open frame tower which was later enclosed. This would explain its broad base and steeply sloping sides. Its top one-third is otherwise typical square tapered range tower, with a gallery resting on iron brackets."

 

Lighthouse Keepers

1878-1901 - Solomon J. B. Leard

1901-1912 - James Inman

1912-1935 - K.C. Holm

Stewart Inman and Harry Clark were keepers of the Leard's Front Range Light so we believe they also kept the Leard's Back Range Light.

Current Owners/ Operators:

The lighthouse is owned by the Government of Canada. The Victoria Seaport Museum Inc. has submitted a petition of ownership under the Parks Canada Heritage Lighthouse Program.