Oblique aerial view of St Abb's Head centred on the lighthouse, taken from the NE.

Description Oblique aerial view of St Abb's Head centred on the lighthouse, taken from the NE.

Date 1989

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number B 23851

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 787251, SC 1667569

Scope and Content Aerial view of St Abb's Head Lighthouse, Scottish Borders This aerial view clearly shows the rocky coastline of St Abb's Head which has always been such a hazard to shipping. The keepers' cottages are contained within the white perimeter wall (centre), with the engine house which drove the compressors to produce compressed air for the foghorn nearby. The lighthouse is identifiable by its black-domed tower and a walled path leading down from the compound. The foghorn house is the white structure at the end of the path on the edge of the cliff. The building of a lighthouse on St Abb's Head was recommended by the Northern Lighthouse Board after the sinking of a ship called the 'Martello' on Carr Rock in 1857. The light was to serve as a guide to shipping when they had lost sight of either the Bell Rock or Isle of May lighthouses. The nominal range of the light is 46km, and the fog signal sounded one blast every 45 seconds to warn shipping of hazards when the light was obscured by bad weather. St Abb's Head Lighthouse was built in 1862 to designs by engineers David (1815-86) and Thomas Stevenson (1818-87). The squat tower on its single-storeyed base is surmounted by a triangular-paned lantern with domed top, and stands in a dramatic cliff-top position overlooking the North Sea near Coldingham. The complex also includes a foghorn on a single-storeyed base, and a two-storeyed, M-gabled, four-bayed cottage which was used for keepers' accommodation. The light was automated in 1993, and the keepers' houses were adapted for use as holiday homes in 1999. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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