Detail of top of light tower, photographed 28 July 1993 Digital image of C 19669
SC 797128
Description Detail of top of light tower, photographed 28 July 1993 Digital image of C 19669
Date 1993
Catalogue Number SC 797128
Category On-line Digital Images
Copy of C 19669
Scope and Content Light tower, Barra Head Lighthouse, Berneray, Western Isles Barra Head Lighthouse, which was opened in 1833, cost £12,000. Robert Stevenson (1772-1850), the Engineer for the Northern Lighthouse Board, designed the tower to be an 'intermittent' light, which meant, according to Munro, 'that two opaque cylindrical shades were moved up and down so as to meet and obscure the light at fixed intervals'. Until 1860, when paraffin became the usual fuel, oils such as those from whale, rapeseed and seal were used for the Argand lamps which provided the lights within lighthouse towers. After 1850, the light produced was turned into one strong beam with the use of the catadioptric system, which used a combination of a lens and reflective and refractive prisms. All the prisms and the lens were together known as the 'optic' and could sometimes weigh 3 tons. Berneray, on which the Barra Head Lighthouse is situated, is the most southerly of several small islands to the south of the island of Barra. The islands are often known as the Bishop's Isles, as in medieval times they belonged to the Bishop of Man and Sodor. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
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Attribution: © RCAHMS
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