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. [1]
Until up to the appointment of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses (later Northern Lighthouse Board) by royal act in 1786, just 4 lighthouses existed in the whole of Scotland. Over the course of the following 200 years, the NLB expanded greatly and is now responsible for 206 lighthouses, 163 buoys, 29 beacons, 2 supply and maintenance ships and a variety of other traditional and modern navigational aids. [2] For a long time, lighthouses mostly burned wood, coal and candles before oil became predominant. Oil was mostly used in the form of whale oil and colza oil before the introduction of kerosene in the mid 19th century and eventually electricity. [3] Mainland stations excepted, lights were mostly staffed by 3 lighthouse keepers with 3 colleagues on shore leave on a 4 weeks on 4 weeks off rotation. Keepers were expected to be on duty at night to supervise the proper function of the lights, keep a 24-hour watch for fog and maintain and service the station during daytime. A first programme of automation in the early 20th century reduced the numbers necessary to staff a station and many lighthouse keepers were made redundant. In the 1980s and 1990s, all Scottish lighthouses were eventually fully automated and the process was completed in 1998. [2]
Pladda lighthouse is a white tower with a height of 29 metres. [2] It is the oldest of the Arran lighthouses and situated on the Isle of Pladda just off the Southern tip of the Isle of Arran. Pladda lighthouse is not only the oldest lighthouse around Arran but also one of the oldest lighthouses in Scotland. Pladda lighthouse was built in 1790 by Thomas Smith and showing a lower light from a small lantern 20 feet below the main light to allow seafareres to distinguish Pladda from other lighthouses close by, notably those on the Mull of Kintyre, Cumbrae and Copeland at the Irish coast. The lighthouse was rebuilt between 1821 and 1830. Pladda was one of Northern Lights' lighthouses where paraffin as a new fuel together with multiple wicks were tested successfully in 1870. This allowed substantial savings with a simultaneous increase in power between 10% and 100%. Fog signals were introduced in the 1870s as well. In 1901, the formerly fixed light was changed to a more powerful group-flashing which was Northern Light's plan for most Scottish lighthouses at the time. [3] Pladda lighthouse operates fully automatic since 1990. Pladdas position is 55° 25.512'N, 005° 07.113'W. Its light flashes Fl.(3)30s40m23M. [4]
The Inner lighthouse on Holy Isle faces the east coast of the Isle of Arran at the south entrance of Lamlash Bay. The lighthouse was built in 1877. With automation at the beginning of the 20th century, one lightkeeper was made redundant. At the same time, an oil tank was set up on the pier at Holy Isle. The oil was then pumped to the light house by air pressure where before, oil barrels had to be landed and then rolled to the oil cellar and pumped by hand into the cisterns. In 1977, the Holy Island lighthouses were electrified, fully automated and classified as unattended at the same time. Holy Isle Inner lighthouse is 23 m high and white. In 1894, the lighthouse keepers saved the captain and crew of the "Ossian". [1] The light Fl.G.3s14m10M and is obscured from east of 147 and north of 282. [4]
Pillar Rock lighthouse is the youngest of the three lighthouses around the Isle of Arran and was built in 1905 on the southwestern shore of Holy Isle to the east of Arran in Lamlash Bay. It was the Northern Lighthouse Board's first square lighthouse. Together with Holy Isle's Inner lighthouse, Pillar Rock was electrified in 1977 and operates fully automatic since. [1] The light Fl(2)20s38m25M. [4]
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical 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.
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles. The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula, which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran. Within the Firth of Clyde is another major island – the Isle of Bute. Given its strategic location at the entrance to the middle and upper Clyde, Bute played a vital naval military role during World War II.
Lamlash is a village on the Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. It lies three miles south of the island's main settlement and ferry port Brodick, in a sheltered bay on the island's east coast, facing the Holy Isle. Lamlash is the seat of Arran's local government offices, and is also the location of the island's police station, secondary school and hospital. In common with the rest of the island, the village's main industry is tourism and the public sector is also an important employer. Lamlash has an RNLI Lifeboat station with a B class Atlantic 75 lifeboat, covering the inshore waters around the coast of Arran, and in summer, there is a regular ferry service from Lamlash harbour to Holy Isle. The village has several buildings of historical interest, including Hamilton Terrace, which consists of two rows of single storey-and-attic cottages on the Lamlash seafront, arranged in pairs.
The County of Bute, also known as Buteshire, is a historic county and registration county of Scotland.
The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of the United States Lighthouse Board until 1939 when it was merged into the United States Coast Guard. It was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all lighthouses and lightvessels in the United States.
Pladda is an uninhabited island 1 km (0.62 mi) off the south coast of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde at grid reference NS027191, western Scotland. It is home to the automated Pladda Lighthouse. The island is privately owned, having been put up for sale by Arran Estate in 1990. As of 2022, the island is again for sale.
The Big Sable Point Light is a lighthouse on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan near Ludington in Mason County, Michigan, at the Ludington State Park. It is an active aid to navigation.
A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as "wickies" because of their job trimming the wicks.
St Bees Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on St Bees Head near the village of St Bees in Cumbria, England. The cliff-top light is the highest in England at 102 m (335 ft) above sea level.
Bull Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Bull Point, about one mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Mortehoe, on the northern coast of Devon, England. The lighthouse provides a visual aid to the villages of Mortehoe, Woolacombe and Ilfracombe, and warns of the inhospitable and rocky coast that lines the area.
The Isle of Arran or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at 432 square kilometres (167 sq mi). Historically part of Buteshire, it is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire. In the 2011 census it had a resident population of 4,629. Though culturally and physically similar to the Hebrides, it is separated from them by the Kintyre peninsula. Often referred to as "Scotland in Miniature", the island is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault and has been described as a "geologist's paradise".
Wolf Rock Lighthouse is on the Wolf Rock, a single rock located 18 nautical miles east of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly and 8 nautical miles southwest of Land's End, in Cornwall, England. The fissures in the rock are said to produce a howling sound in gales, hence the name.
The Needles Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse on the outermost of the chalk rocks at The Needles on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, near sea level. Designed by James Walker, for Trinity House at a cost of £20,000. It was completed in 1859 from granite blocks, stands 33.25 metres (109.1 ft) high and is a circular tower with straight sides. It replaced an earlier light tower on top of a cliff overhanging Scratchell's Bay, which was first lit on 29 September 1786.
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.
Eilean Glas Lighthouse is situated on the east coast of the island of Scalpay in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. It was one of the original four lights commissioned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights, and the first in the Hebrides. These lighthouses were built by Thomas Smith.
Pladda Lighthouse is an active 18th century lighthouse situated at the southern end of the island of Pladda in western Scotland. The lighthouse dates from 1790 and was designed by Thomas Smith. It was the first light on the Clyde to be commissioned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights. It had both an upper and a lower light to distinguish it from the three other lighthouses in the Firth of Clyde.
The Point of Ayre Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse, sited at the Point of Ayre at the north-eastern end of the Isle of Man. It was designed and built by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of prolific writer and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, and was first lit in 1818, making it the oldest operational lighthouse on the island.
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 Scotland. It is best known for the mysterious disappearance of its keepers in 1900.
Maughold Head Lighthouse is an active 20th century lighthouse, located on the headland of the same name at the southern end of Ramsey Bay on the eastern coast of the Isle of Man. Completed in 1914, it was designed by David A and Charles Stevenson.
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.
