Archaeology Notes
Event ID 661638
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/661638
ND38SE 16 centred 38822 84370
Island situated about 4Km W of Burwick on South Ronaldsay and 6Km NNE of the Island of Canisbay. It is about 2.05Km long by 654m at maximum width and occupies about 105 hectares.
The Swona Minor light was built in 1906 and replaced by a square tower sometime in the 1980s. An earlier lighthouse was built in 1896which stood at the northern end of the island.
Occupied until 1974 when the last of the population left, all farmsteads, houses and farm buildings are now abandoned though some of the fields are still used for grazing.
Information from RCAHMS (DE), February 2009