North Ronaldsay, Dennis Ness, Lighthouse
Lighthouse (19th Century)
Site Name North Ronaldsay, Dennis Ness, Lighthouse
Classification Lighthouse (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Versa Breck; Dennis Head
Canmore ID 3645
Site Number HY75NE 24
NGR HY 78439 55996
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/3645
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Cross And Burness
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Orkney
- Former County Orkney
HY75NE 24.00 78439 55996
North Ronaldsay
Lighthouse
(flashing white) [NAT]
OS (GIS) MasterMap, April 2010.
HY75NE 24.01 HY 78428 55978 Keepers' Cottages
HY75NE 24.02 HY 78403 55962 Sundial
For predecessor Old Lighthouse ('Old Beacon') at HY 7901 5539, see HY75NE 23.
NMRS REFERENCE
Architect: Thomas Smith 1789
Alan Stevenson 1846
EXTERNAL REFERENCE
NORTHERN LIGHTHOUSE BOARD
C/56/18 Plan showing expament sheets in roofing -missing
C/56/19 Supports to suspended ceilings - beam reinforcement - missing
C56/20 Expamet roofing and suspended ceiling (Expamet Metal Co) - missing
(Undated) information in NMRS.
(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 lighthouse is of relatively simple brick construction, and is distinguished by its unusual decoration of two white bands. It was first lighted in 1854 and the banding was added in 1889; the tower has been automated since 1989.
R W Munro 1979; K Allardyce and E M Hood 1986; K Allardyce 1998.
Construction (1865)
Light established in 1854. This replaced the light built in 1789 by Thomas Smith (HY75NE 23).
S Krauskopf 2003
Orkney Smr Note (October 1979)
Completed 1853. Designer A Stevenson, builder W Kinghorn,
Leith. Brick tower 139ft high - highest light tower in Britain.
Keepers accommodation adjoins. Fog signal and radio direction
beacon added 1930-2. Still a manned light.
Information from Orkney SMR (RGL) Oct 79.
Note (1980)
Dennis Head Lighthouse, North Ronaldsay HY 7843 5599 HY75NE
Brick tower 42.5m high - tallest in Britain - completed 1853 and since then the main light in the N of Orkney. Fog signal and radio beacon installed 1930-2. Still a manned light.
RCAHMS 1980
(OR 238)
Publication Account (1996)
A new lighthouse was built on North Ronaldsay in 1854, almost a kilometre to the north-west of the old beacon. Dennis Ness is so low and flat that an exceptionally tall tower was needed: at a height of 41m, this is the tallest land-based li ghthouse built in the British Isles. In common with other lighthouses built at a simi lar period, the tower was constructed of red brick rather than stone as an economy measure, and the bricks had to be imported. The tower was given its two broad white bands of paint in 1889 in order to distinguish it in daylight.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
Field Visit (1999)
The lighthouse at Dennis Head was built in 1852, to replace the beacon (see NR35). Designed by Alan Stevenson, it was built by William Kinghorn of Leith for ú681 8s 7d. It was constructed in brick, over a stone base and stands to 42.3m. It is the highest land-based lighthouse in Britain and the main light in the north of Orkney. It was painted with two white stripes in 1889. The fog signal and radio beacon were installed in 1930. Ref.: RCAHMS (1946), #207.
Moore & Wilson 1999.
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, 1999
