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Port Logan, Harbour, Beacon
Lighthouse (18th Century)
Site Name Port Logan, Harbour, Beacon
Classification Lighthouse (18th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Port Nessock Harbour; Port Logan Harbour, Lighthouse; Port Logan Harbour, Tower; Port Logan Mole And Lighthouse
Canmore ID 279673
Site Number NX04SE 15.01
NGR NX 09464 40562
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/279673
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Kirkmaiden
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Wigtown
- Former County Wigtownshire
NX04SE 15.01 09464 40562
Tower [NAT]
OS 1:2500 map, 1975.
Perhaps the most attractive of all minor Scottish lights is that at Port Logan. Built in the second half of the 18th century by Col Andrew MacDouall as part of an ill-fated scheme to provide a new packet-port to Ireland, it is a two-storeyed stone building, circular on plan, now standing forlorn at the end of a derelict pier. Its lower chamber is entered from the sheltered lower level of the quay, and fitted with a fireplace and shelves. Adjacent and within the outer wall of the pier, there is a small latrine chamber of medieval characater with twin seats and a corbelled vaulted roof. An external flight of steps leads onto the upper stage of the quay and thence into the first [upper] floor of the lighthouse. Access to the lantern was gained by a ladder-hole through its stone-flagged ceiling. The lantern is square on plan, and has a circular stone cap carried on four massive stone mullions, the rebates in which indicate that there must originally have been wooden frames to hold the glazing. The light would have been provided by a portable lantern suspened from the roof.
D B Hague 1977.
(Port Logan: location cited as NX 095 405). At end of breakwater (now ruinous) and adjoining sea wall: c. 1818. Finely-built ashlar tower with cylindrical base, slightly tapered upper section curved in at top to bull-nosed top course. Hexagonal lantern with stone mullions and concave-tapered top.
J R Hume 1997.
Publication Account (1986)
Being the only comparatively safe natural anchorage on this exposed western coast, Port Logan or Port Nessock, as it is sometimes known, was a serious rival to Portpatrick as a possible terminal for Irish traffIc. Efforts on the part of the McDouall owners to develop a harbour here were first recorded in 1682, but the existing remains correspond with the chief proposals made by John Rennie in a report of 1813. These were put into effect between 1818 and 1820 at the expense of Colonel Andrew McDouall of Logan. It was even intended to have an offshore breakwater covering the whole bay, but this, and the hopes for the harbour, were never realised. For a few decades Port Logan was used for a trade in Irish cattle and local produce, but it was unable to oust Portpatrick when this in turn was being over taken by Stranraer.
Even today, the Port Logan jetty is an impressive witness to its builder's ambitions. It extends in a broad arc some 185m into the bay, and is constructed of large stone blocks. At the pier-head there is a sturdy built lighthouse-tower with a stone-slabbed conical roof. The light-chamber has had wooden-framed windows and was reached by a ladder from the first floor, but there is no clear evidence of the actual method of lighting. A latrine with a mural chute was contrived under the outside stair. There are a few granite bollards, and the projecting socketed stones on the face of the inner quayside were designed to clasp upright wooden fenders.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
