General view of (L to R) Keepers' Houses, foghorn enginehouse, lighthouse and foghorn. Digital image of C 4261 CN.

Description General view of (L to R) Keepers' Houses, foghorn enginehouse, lighthouse and foghorn. Digital image of C 4261 CN.

Date 1993

Catalogue Number SC 787278

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 4261 CN

Scope and Content Keepers' houses, engine house, lighthouse and foghorn, St Abb's Head Lighthouse, Scottish Borders This shows the cliffs at St Abb's Head, with the keepers' house and engine house (left), lighthouse (centre) and foghorn (right). The buildings are painted white to help them to be seen during the day (lighthouses are known by their individual 'daymarks' during the day). The tanks next to the lighthouse were used to store compressed air produced by in the engine house for use in the foghorn. 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. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/787278

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap