Archaeology Notes

Event ID 865594

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/865594

NM10SW 1 1227 0305

NLO: Torran Rocks [name centred NM 28 13].

For associated signal station and shore establishment at Erraid (Earraid), Mull (NM 297 203), see NM22SE 61.

NMRS REFERENCE

Dubh Artach Lighthouse.

Lighthouse on Dhucartach rock, 15 miles South-West of Iona.

April 20 1867

D & T Stevenson

The Builder 1867.

(Undated) information in NMRS.

Dubh Artach is one of four Scottish lights situated more than ten nautical miles from shore, the others being Sule Skerry (HX62SW 1), Flannan, and Bell Rock (NO72NE 1). From the Torran reefs, an isolated mass of basaltic rock rising to a height of no more than 35 ft, it guards an extensive area of stormy water between the Rinns of Islay and Skerryvore. The construction works were based around the use of a steel-framed barracks and cost ?65,784; at its inception it was the first isolated rock light to burn paraffin. The light was automated in 1970/1.

R W Munro 1979.

Dubh Artach (Dubh Heartach) light is situated on a rock at the end of the Torran Rocks reef, 12 miles off the Ross of Mull. It was built by engineers Thomas and David Stevenson with the aid of steam power; work started in April and the light was completed and lit on 1 November 1872. The light was automated in 1971 and the area of the construction barracks is now occupied by a helicopter pad.

K Allardyce and E M Hood 1986.

Name: Dubh Artach (1867-72)

Location: N56 8 W6 38 Atlantic, 14 miles SW of Iona

Designed: David and Thomas Stevenson

Built: David and Thomas Stevenson, and Alan Brebner

Light first exhibited: 1 November 1872

Description: circular brick tower, painted white

Height of light above MHW: 145ft (44m)

Height of tower: 125ft (38m)

Light source and characteristics: W Gp Fl (2) ev 30 secs. Acetylene: 89,000cp: nominal range 20nm

Fog warning apparatus: Horn (2) ev 45 secs

Manning: unwatched (automatic since October 1971), monitored from Northern Lighthouse Board HQ, Edinburgh

C Nicholson 1995.