Barra Head Lighthouse

Last updated

Barra Head Lighthouse
Berneray
Barra Head Lighthouse.jpg
The lighthouse in 2006
Barra Head Lighthouse
Location Barra Head
Outer Hebrides
Scotland
OS grid NL5646980399
Coordinates 56°47′08″N7°39′13″W / 56.78544°N 7.65356°W / 56.78544; -7.65356 Coordinates: 56°47′08″N7°39′13″W / 56.78544°N 7.65356°W / 56.78544; -7.65356
Tower
Constructed1833
Built by Robert Stevenson   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Constructionstone tower
Height18 m (59 ft)
Shapecylindrical tower with balcony and lantern attached to 1-storey keeper's house [1]
Markingswhite tower, black lantern. ochre trim
OperatorNorthern Lighthouse Board [2]
Heritagecategory A listed building  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Light
First lit15 October 1833  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Automated23 October 1980
Focal height208 m (682 ft)
Lensrotating fresnel lens
Range18 nmi (33 km)
Characteristic Vaindloo white.gif Fl W 15s  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Barra Head Lighthouse on Barra Head identifies the southern entrance to The Minch, roughly halfway between the Eilean Glas and Rinns of Islay lighthouses. The 58-foot (18-metre) stone tower, built in 1833, stands on the west side of the island, at the top of a very steep cliff, making the light the highest in the UK with a focal plane of 208 m (682 ft) above sea level. It has a range of 18 nautical miles (21 mi; 33 km). [1] There is no shallow water west of Berneray to break the blow of the Atlantic storms and small fish are sometimes thrown onto the grass on the cliff top. In 1836 Sir Archibald Geikie recorded the movement of a 42-long-ton (43-tonne) block of gneiss across 5 feet (1.5 m) of ground during a violent storm. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

History

Designed by Robert Stevenson and built by James Smith of Inverness the light was first exhibited on 15 October 1833. [6] The oil-burning light was converted to incandescent in 1906 and the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation on 23 October 1980, when the last keepers were withdrawn. [1]

The main optic is now an acetylene-operated Dalen revolving pedestal. The fresnel lens rotates every 30 seconds. During daylight hours, the lens rotates at a very slow speed to prevent the mantles from deteriorating in strong sunlight. There are 4 mantles in the exchanger systems. Electrical power is provided by batteries, which are automatically recharged by a diesel alternator twice a week. The equipment is monitored by Hyskeir Lighthouse. [1]

Due to the dangerous landing conditions, Barra Head lighthouse was re-classified by the RNLI as a "Rock Station" early in the 20th century. Two small boats had been swamped and lost in the enormous swell by the slipway at the landing place. The regulations associated with this change prevented both alongside landings by tenders and the lighthouse men keeping dinghies onshore. [7] [8] The departure of the last of the crofting families meant an end to regular links by sea and the regular mist and fog rendered signalling unreliable. A system of wireless communications with Castlebay on Barra was therefore proposed and installed by 1925. [9]

The keepers' cemetery Barra Head cemetery.jpg
The keepers' cemetery

The pier was built in the late 1930s with the approach of war, when a sophisticated radar system was installed to guard the Western Approaches. This involved the landing of hundreds of steel girders and drums containing steel cables used to create three large radar masts, and a robust "Scots Derrick" was erected to crane them ashore. [7]

A small walled cemetery was constructed halfway between the lighthouse and the summit of Sotan for the keepers. This contains the grave of a visiting inspector and those of a number of the keepers' children. [7] [10] A Blenheim bomber crashed into the cliffs nearby during World War II, but the wreck was not discovered until many years later by a rock climber. [1] [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

Lighthouse Structure designed to emit light to aid navigation

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.

Bressay Lighthouse Lighthouse in Shetland, Scotland

Bressay Lighthouse is still an active lighthouse in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south-east of Lerwick. It is located on the island of Bressay at Kirkabister Ness overlooking Bressay Sound.

Mingulay is the second largest of the Bishop's Isles in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Located 12 miles (19 km) south of Barra, it is known for its important seabird populations, including puffins, black-legged kittiwakes, and razorbills, which nest in the sea-cliffs, amongst the highest in the British Isles.

Barra Head Southernmost island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland

Barra Head, also known as Berneray, is the southernmost island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Within the Outer Hebrides, it forms part of the Barra Isles archipelago. Originally, Barra Head only referred to the southernmost headland of Berneray but is now a common name for the entire island. The highest point of the island is Sotan, a Marilyn.

The Flannan Isles or alternatively, the Seven Hunters are a small island group in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, approximately 32 kilometres (20 mi) west of the Isle of Lewis. They may take their name from Saint Flannan, the 7th century Irish preacher and abbot.

Northern Lighthouse Board

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.

Butt of Lewis

The Butt of Lewis is the most northerly point of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The headland, which lies in the North Atlantic, is frequently battered by heavy swells and storms and is marked by the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse. The nearest populated area is the village of Eoropie, about 1 mile to the south.

Skerryvore is a remote island that lies off the west coast of Scotland, 12 miles south-west of the island of Tiree. Skerryvore Lighthouse is located on these rocks, built with some difficulty between 1838 and 1844 by Alan Stevenson.

Dubh Artach Remote skerry off the west coast of Scotland

Dubh Artach is a remote skerry of basalt rock off the west coast of Scotland lying 18 miles (29 km) west of Colonsay and 15 miles (24 km) south-west of the Ross of Mull.

Raffles Lighthouse Lighthouse

Raffles Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on Pulau Satumu in the Singapore Strait, about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of the main island of Singapore.

New Presque Isle Light Lighthouse in Michigan, United States

The New Presque Isle Light was built in 1870, at Presque Isle, Michigan, east of Grand Lake, and sits on the namesake peninsula. It is one of 149 lighthouses in Michigan, more than any other state. Because of changing shoreline particularly, or alternatively deterioration of the original building, it is not uncommon for a replacement lighthouse to be placed in the vicinity of an earlier light, in this case, the Old Presque Isle Light.

Covesea Skerries Lighthouse Lighthouse

Covesea Skerries Lighthouse, originally belonging to the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB), is built on top of a small headland on the south coast of the Moray Firth at Covesea, near Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland.

Gay Head Light Lighthouse

Gay Head Light is a historic lighthouse located on Martha's Vineyard westernmost point off of Lighthouse Road in Aquinnah, Massachusetts.

Cape Don Light Lighthouse in Northern Territory, Australia

Cape Don Light is an active lighthouse located on Cape Don, at the tip of the Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, Australia, in Garig Gunak Barlu National Park, marking the entrance to the Dundas Strait. It is Australia's northernmost traditional lighthouse. The station served on the important route to Darwin, between the peninsula and Melville Island. The tower was constructed in 1915–1917, during the "Golden Age of Australian Lighthouses" (1913–1920), and the tower was manned until 1983. During the entire period that the tower was manned it also maintained meteorological records which were well placed to assist in cyclone development tracking. The complex consists of the lighthouse, three residences and ancillary buildings.

Low Isles Light Lighthouse

Low Isles Light, also known as Low Islets Light or Low Island Light, is an active lighthouse located on Low Island, a coral cay which together with Woody Island forms the Low Isles group, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia. The island is situated on the western edge of the main shipping channel into the harbour of Port Douglas, and it marks the entrance to the channel. Built in 1878, it was the first lighthouse in Far North Queensland and more specifically the first to light the Inner Passage of the Great Barrier Reef. Its construction is typical to Queensland lighthouses of the time, timber frame clad with galvanized iron, and it is the fourth lighthouse of this type constructed in Queensland, though it is the first of them to use portholes.

Kinnaird Head Lighthouses Lighthouse

There are two lighthouses located on Kinnaird Head, in Fraserburgh, Scotland, an historical one built in a converted castle, and its modern replacement built in 1991.

Flannan Isles Lighthouse Lighthouse off the northwest coast of Scotland

Flannan Isles Lighthouse is a lighthouse near the highest point on Eilean Mòr, one of the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is best known for the mysterious disappearance of its keepers in 1900.

Three lighthouses can be found around the shores of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde. One is located on the island of Pladda in the south and the other two can be found on Holy Island in Lamlash Bay to the east of Arran. All three are still in service and maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board. They are now fully automatic since the electrification of both lighthouses on Holy Isle in 1977.

Noss Head Lighthouse Lighthouse

The Noss Head Lighthouse is an active 19th-century lighthouse near Wick in Caithness in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is located at the end of Noss Head, a peninsula on the north-west coast of Caithness that overlooks Sinclairs Bay, three miles north-east of Wick. It is notable as being the first lighthouse that was built with a diagonally-paned lantern room.

St Abbs Head Lighthouse Lighthouse

St Abb's Head Lighthouse stands on the cliffs at the rocky promontory of St Abb's Head, near the village of St Abbs in Berwickshire.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Barra Head Lighthouse". Northern Lighthouse Board. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
  2. ↑ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Scotland: Western Isles". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. 207–209.
  4. ↑ Murray (1996) p. 221.
  5. ↑ Murray (1966) p. 232.
  6. ↑ Munro (1979) p. 89.
  7. 1 2 3 "The Most Dangerous Landing in Scotland" Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine safetybarrahead.com. Retrieved 30 December 2008.
  8. ↑ Munro (1979) p. 191 states that one of these accidents occurred "in the storms of 1877-8".
  9. ↑ Munro (1979) p. 213, 223.
  10. ↑ Buxton (1995) p. 147.
  11. ↑ Buxton (1995) pp. 147, 149.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Barra Head Lighthouse at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.