Photographic copy of location plan for proposed site of lighthouse. Northern Lights, sheet No.1

Description Photographic copy of location plan for proposed site of lighthouse. Northern Lights, sheet No.1

Date 15/2/1859

Collection Records of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number E 25651 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copy of DC 8479

Copies SC 787682

Scope and Content Photographic copy of site plan, Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, Western Isles This shows a plan of the rocky coastline around the Butt of Lewis. The lighthouse complex is shown on the right (tinted pink), and a safe landing place, or haven, called Port Sto on the left. A road (also tinted pink) joins the two features. Boats filled with supplies for the keepers and their families would land at Port Sto, and the goods would then be transported by cart to the lighthouse. Shore stations in remote regions sometimes had supplies delivered by boats, which would land as close as possible to the station, often leaving food and fuel in a storehouse until they could be collected. Delivering supplies and relief keepers to rock stations was a much more hazardous enterprise, as small craft could easily be dashed against the rocks or landing pier. If a relief could not be made, then the keepers would have to wait until sea conditions improved, often for days or even weeks. Butt of Lewis Lighthouse was built in 1862 to designs by engineers David (1815-86) and Thomas Stevenson (1818-87) and stands on the northernmost tip of the Isle of Lewis, officially the windiest spot in the UK. The 37m-high red brick tower is surmounted by a black domed lantern, and has a light which flashes white every five seconds, with a range of 40km over the Atlantic Ocean. The keepers lived in white-painted, flat-roofed cottages around the tower until the complex was automated in 1998. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium colour negative

External Reference C/10/1

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