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Strathy Point Lighthouse
Lighthouse (20th Century)
Site Name Strathy Point Lighthouse
Classification Lighthouse (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Pentland Firth
Canmore ID 159172
Site Number NC86NW 42
NGR NC 82783 69641
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/159172
- Council Highland
- Parish Farr
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NC86NW 42 82783 69641
Strathy Point Lighthouse [NAT]
OS 1:10,560 map, 1967.
Strathy Point lighthouse and its fog signal form the first all-electric lighthouse station in Scotland, being sanctioned in 1956 as a major light intended to fill a notable gap in coverage between Dunnet Head and Cape Wrath. A light in this location was first proposed in about 1900.
The station was first lighted in 1958 and automated in 1997. A two-panel optical apparatus of 250mm focal length rotates around a 1kw lamp to give a beam candlepower of 1,600,000; the lantern measures only about 7ft in diameter and this optic is only about one-quarter the size of that considered necessary twenty years earlier. The traditional round tower has been abandoned, and even the the 35ft concrete lantern tower is square, while the fog signal is a compressed-air diaphone with horns set at angles of 120 degrees to spread the sound.
The station buildings were designed by the board's engineer, P H Hyslop, and are laid out as a hollow square with covered-in passageways to give protection from the high winds on this exposed headland.
R W Munro 1979; K Allardyce 1998.
Construction (1958)
First all electrical lighthouse built in Scotland.
R W Munro 1979
