Eilean Musdile (Mansedale) is an islet, and
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
to the south west of
Lismore in the
Inner Hebrides
The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "the inner isles") is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, whic ...
.
The island lies in the entrance to
Loch Linnhe
Loch Linnhe () is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as (the salty pool). The name ''Linnhe'' is derived from the Gaelic w ...
, separated from Lismore by a sound ¼ miles across.
It is a low-lying rock, in size,
[ with some grass on it. ]CalMac
Caledonian MacBrayne ( gd, Caledonian Mac a' Bhriuthainn), usually shortened to CalMac, is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries, and ferry services, between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west ...
ferries pass close to the island on their way from Oban
Oban ( ; ' in Scottish Gaelic meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, th ...
to Mull
Mull may refer to:
Places
*Isle of Mull, a Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides
**Sound of Mull, between the Isle of Mull and the rest of Scotland
* Mount Mull, Antarctica
*Mull Hill, Isle of Man
* Mull, Arkansas, a place along Arkansas Highway ...
.
The lighthouse was built by Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to:
* Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician
* Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer
* Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...
in 1833 at a cost of £4260 and initially showed a fixed white light.[ In 1910 most of the Northern Lighthouse Board's lights were changed to ]dioptric
Dioptrics is the branch of optics dealing with refraction, similarly the branch dealing with mirror
A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of ...
or Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships."
The design allows the c ...
es but Lismore and Fidra
Fidra (archaically Fidrey or Fetheray) is a currently uninhabited island in the Firth of Forth, northwest of North Berwick, on the east coast of Scotland. The island is an RSPB Scotland nature reserve.
Geography
Like the other islands near N ...
, in the Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south.
Name
''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...
, were left as the only remaining purely catoptric lights in the service.[
A Standing Stone once stood on the highest point of the island (). The monolith appears to have recorded the midwinter sunset and is thought to have been removed during construction of the lighthouse.]Lady's Rock
Lady's Rock is an uninhabited skerry to the south west of Lismore in the Inner Hebrides. It is submerged at high tide and carries a navigation beacon. Eilean Musdile is to the north east, next to Lismore.
History
In 1527, Lachlan Maclean of D ...
lies a short distance to the south west.
See also
* List of lighthouses in Scotland
This is a list of lighthouses in Scotland. The Northern Lighthouse Board, from which much of the information is derived, are responsible for most lighthouses in Scotland but have handed over responsibility in the major estuaries to the port aut ...
* List of Northern Lighthouse Board lighthouses
This is a list of the currently operational lighthouses of the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB). The list is divided by geographical location, and then by whether the lighthouses are classed by the NLB as a 'major lighthouse' or a 'minor light'. F ...
Footnotes
External links
Northern Lighthouse Board
Lismore, Scotland
Category A listed lighthouses
Archaeological sites in the Northern Inner Hebrides
Lighthouses of Scottish islands
Works of Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)
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