Skye, Ornsay Lighthouse, Keepers' Cottages

Isle Ornsay Lighthouse D. & T. Stevenson, 1857 A balconied tower standing out like a white finger against the awesome backdrop of the Garbh Criochan, with double range of keepers' cottages hugging the ground above a stone-walled garden close by. Like their twins on Eilean Ban, these stand back to back and were formerly owned by Gavin Maxwell who, finding them '… primordial, without a stick of furniture, and no light or fuel ... eerie beyond belief', converted them a few years after the lighthouse was automated in 1962, into 'a single sumptuous 4-bedroomed residence …'(for a fuller description see p.21 0). Weather and wild seas soon got the better of this romantic dream and neglect took its toll; the holiday house they provide today is somewhat more basic.

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

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