Hestan Island is a small coastal island at the southern foot of the River Urr estuary in the
Solway Firth, in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire,
Scotland. This small
island measures approximately and at its highest elevation sits at just over
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
.
The isle of Hestan lies at the mouth of
Auchencairn Bay in the region of
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkc ...
in the former county of
Kirkcudbrightshire
Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative count ...
. A
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 mark ...
was built on the eastern side of the island by
Alan Stevenson
Alan Stevenson FRSE LLD MInstCE (28 April 1807 – 23 December 1865) was a Scottish civil engineer, known for designing and building lighthouses in and around Scotland.
Life
Alan Stevenson was born in Edinburgh on 28 April 1807, the eldest s ...
in 1850.
At certain conditions of low tide the island is accessible on foot as there is a natural causeway of shingle and mussels from Almorness Point to the northern tip of Hestan. The island can also be reached on foot from Rockcliffe during the time of spring tides, but requires wading (knee to thigh deep) across the lowest parts of the river Urr out on the mudflats. It is a two-mile walk and, unlike other parts of the Solway mudflats and, say, Morecambe Bay, you can walk faster than the incoming tide if you leave Hestan a bit late.
At the southern tip of the island is the notably-named "Daft Ann's Steps", a series of pinnacles where, legends say, a girl of lesser intelligence attempted to lay stepping stones ahead of her to reach the
Balcary Point and drowned.
There are ruins of a manor house built for
Edward Balliol near the north of the island.
In the 18th century the island was used as a centre of smuggling activity, with goods being stored in the caves on the south west of the island where there was reputed to have been shelves cut into the rock.
Samuel Rutherford Crockett made great play with this in his novel ''The Raiders''.
Balcary House, on the opposite shore, now Balcary Bay Hotel, was used by a firm of smugglers which used its cellars to conceal their contraband.
The island is a popular destination for
sea kayakers.
Hestan Island is one of 43 tidal islands that can be walked to from the mainland of
Great Britain and one of 17 that can be walked to from the Scottish mainland.
[Caton, Peter (2011) ''No Boat Required - Exploring Tidal Islands''. Matador.]
Gallery
File:Hestan Steading - geograph.org.uk - 1355609.jpg, Buildings on Hestan Island
File:Hestan.jpg, Hestan island in the Solway
File:Orchardton House with Hestan and Windfarm - geograph.org.uk - 1344421.jpg, Orchardton Castle
Orchardton Castle overlooks the Solway Coast. Built in the 1880s, this is a Grade B listed property formerly known as Orchardton House. Built around a Scottish Baronial-style mansion located in Auchencairn in the historical county of Kirkcudbri ...
with Hestan and windfarm.
File:Farmhouse and shed on Hestan Island - geograph.org.uk - 1355599.jpg
File:Hestan Island - geograph.org.uk - 423549.jpg
File:Auchencairn Bay.jpg
See also
*
List of islands of Scotland
*
List of outlying islands of Scotland
The outlying islands of Scotland are not part of the larger archipelagos and island groups of Scotland—the Hebrides, the Northern Isles or the Islands of the Forth and Clyde estuaries. None of these islands are currently inhabited and few o ...
*
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 ...
References
External links
Hestan Island in the Gazetteer for ScotlandHestan Island WebsitePicture of Estan Lighthouse
{{Authority control , additional=Q29589124
Islands of the Solway
Tidal islands of Scotland