The History of St. Mary's Island and Lighthouse
Curry's Point:
In 1739 Michael Curry, a glass worker from Seaton Sluice, was hanged in Newcastle for the murder of Robert Shevil, the landlord of the inn at Old Hartley. As was the custom then, his body was strung from a gibbet, within sight of his crime, on what is today known as Curry's Point. 250 years on, in 1989, a plaque was unveiled on the point to commemorate this gruesome event.
Napoleonic Wars:
During the Napoleonic Wars the North East coast suffered attacks from the French privateers. In 1761 a Newcastle newspaper reported that a French pirate ship had seized a vessel off St. Mary's Island and was being chased by the 'Aldborough', a man-of-war. In 1799 the island was used to isolate Russian soldiers who had developed cholera on a voyage south to fight Napolean. Those who died were buried on the island.
Cottages:
In 1855 the cottage in front of the lighthouse was built by a fisherman called George Ewen from Aberdeen. He had rented the salmon fishing rights since 1852 and had a hut in which to keep his nets and boats. His cottage, built with the help of Lord Hastings of Delaval, was thatched with 'bents' the grass gathered on the headland.
In 1862 he turned it into an inn called 'The Freemason's Arms', known locally as 'The Square and Compass' and licensed to retail foreign and British wines, ales and porter. Alterations to add a barrel room and washing room the previous year had uncovered human remains, probably those of the Russian cholera victims, and it was said that one of the victims was kept in the cellar and shown to customers for a small sum.