Historic Buildings in Scotland

Lighthouses

Lighthouse Gallery - Chronological List - Alphabetical List

In 1635 there was a coal fire on top of a tower on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth - the first recorded lighthouse in Scotland. As shipping and the associated dangers increased so did the need for lighthouses. In 1786 the Commission for Northern Lights was established and they set up lighthouses on the Kintyre peninsula and at Barra Head, Kinnaird Head and on North Ronaldsay. These used whale-oil burners along with a parabolic reflector - an invention of the commission's first engineer, Thomas Smith.

Robert Stevenson, Smith's son-in-law and the grandfather of the famous author, also became an engineer for the commission and was responsible for designing 15 lighthouses in Scotland - including a new one for the Isle of May and one for the Isle of Man. His sons, Alan, David and Thomas, built a further 80 lighthouses throughout Scotland. David's sons, David and Charles, continued the tradition of the family who became known as the Lighthouse Stevensons.