Scanned image of photographic copy of details of stairs, plan and elevation. Sheet No. 5.

SC 781426

Description Scanned image of photographic copy of details of stairs, plan and elevation. Sheet No. 5.

Date c. 1855

Collection Records of the Northern Lighthouse Board, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 781426

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Photographic copy of details of the stairs, North Unst Lighthouse, Muckle Flugga, Unst, Shetland Islands This drawing shows the details of the stairs inside the lighthouse. The top image shows an elevation of one flight of stairs, the centre image shows one of the floors of the tower with the floorboards and joists marked in position, and the lower image shows the steep stairs ascending the tower, within a framework of joists. Much of the keeper's day would be spent climbing up and down the stairs to attend to his duties. These included cleaning and refuelling the lamps and cleaning the glass of the lantern (inside and out, including during snowstorms), maintaining the fog signal, and tending the clockwork machinery which turned the optic (usually driven by a weight inside the tower). These duties became easier in the 1920s with the introduction of electricity and diesel generators, and today all lighthouses are automated. North Unst Lighthouse (renamed Muckle Flugga Lighthouse in 1964) was built in 1858 by engineers David (1815-86) and Thomas Stevenson (1818-87), although a temporary light was placed here in 1854 to ensure safe passage for British ships during the Crimean War (1853-6). The tower stands 20m high and its light has a range of about 41km. The lighthouse was automated in March 1995. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Accession Number 1987/10

External Reference C/57/38

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/781426

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap