Oblique aerial view of Sanday, Start Farm and steading, taken from the NE

Description Oblique aerial view of Sanday, Start Farm and steading, taken from the NE

Date 5/8/1997

Collection RCAHMS Aerial Photography

Catalogue Number SC 738832

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 16616 CN

Scope and Content Aerial view of lighthouse-keeper's house and steading, Start Point Lighthouse Farm, Sanday, Orkney Islands Start Point Lighthouse on the island of Sanday is the most easterly lighthouse on Orkney. Sanday is low-lying and almost treeless, with only a few low hills, making it difficult for sailors to distinguish the island in poor visibility. This shows the lighthouse with the keeper's house and steading. The keeper ran a croft or small farm as well as looking after the lighthouse. First built in 1802 as an unlit beacon with a ball of masonry on top, the lighthouse was fitted with a revolving light in 1806, the first such light in Scotland. Charles I granted authority for the first lighthouse in Scotland to be built in 1635 on the Island of May by Alexander Cunningham of Barnes, a Fife laird. Its running costs were met by a small charge on shipping entering the Firth of Forth. The light burned all year round and was known as 'the Light of May'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/738832

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap