Archaeology Notes

Event ID 867818

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/867818

HY75NE 23.00 79012 55392

Old Beacon [NAT]

1:10,000 map, 1973.

HY75NE 23.01 HY 79002 55392 Remains of keepers' houses, East house

HY75NE 23.02 HY 78997 55391 Remains of keepers' houses, West house

For sucessor and present lighthouse and keepers' cottages (HY 7843 5599 and 7840 5596), see HY75NE 24.

(Location cited as HY 784 560). North Ronaldsay lighthouses, engineer Thomas Smith and (1853) Alan Stevenson.

The older tower (HY75NE 23), disused since 1809, with its lantern replaced by a stone ball, was the first in Orkney. It is cylindrical in form, with the remains of a corbelled walkway.

Its replacement (HY75NE 24) is a tapering brick tower, now painted in bands, with a range of 1-storey masonry keepers' houses. With a height of 139ft (42.4m) it is the tallest land-based lighthouse in the British Isles.

J R Hume 1977.

This light was one of the four that were constructed (from 1786) under the initial programme of the Commissioners of Northern Lights. It was built by engineer Thomas Smith, lighted in 1789, and ceased operation in 1809, when it was replaced by the Start Point light (HY74SE 20) on Sanday. Doubts about the wisdom of this move led to the construction of its nearby successor (HY75NE 24).

R W Munro 1979.