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Barra Head Lighthouse on
safetybarrahead.com. Retrieved 30 December 2008. The departure of the last of the
The pier was built in the late 1930s with the approach of war, when a sophisticated radar system was installed to guard the Western Approaches. This involved the landing of hundreds of steel girders and drums containing steel cables used to create three large radar masts, and a robust "Scots Derrick" was erected to crane them ashore.
A small walled cemetery was constructed halfway between the lighthouse and the summit of Sotan for the keepers. This contains the grave of a visiting inspector and those of a number of the keepers' children. A Blenheim bomber crashed into the cliffs nearby during
Northern Lighthouse Board
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1833 Lighthouses in Outer Hebrides Category A listed lighthouses Works of Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)
Barra Head
Barra Head, also known as Berneray ( gd, Beàrnaraigh; sco, Barra Heid), is the southernmost island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Within the Outer Hebrides, it forms part of the Barra Isles archipelago. Originally, Barra Head only r ...
identifies the southern entrance to The Minch
The Minch ( gd, An Cuan Sgitheanach, ', ', '), also called North Minch, is a strait in north-west Scotland, separating the north-west Highlands and the northern Inner Hebrides from Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. It was known as ("Sco ...
, roughly halfway between the Eilean Glas and Rinns of Islay
The Rinns of Islay (Scottish Gaelic: Na Roinn Ìleach; alternative English spelling Rhinns of Islay) is an area on the west of the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.
It is a peninsula that is attached to the main body of the i ...
lighthouses. The stone tower, built in 1833, stands on the west side of the island, at the top of a very steep cliff, making the light the highest in the UK with a focal plane of above sea level. It has a range of . There is no shallow water west of Berneray to break the blow of the Atlantic storms and small fish are sometimes thrown onto the grass on the cliff top. In 1836 Sir Archibald Geikie recorded the movement of a block of gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...
across of ground during a violent storm.Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. 207–209.
History
Designed by Robert Stevenson and built by James Smith of Inverness the light was first exhibited on 15 October 1833. The oil-burning light was converted to incandescent in 1906 and the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation on 23 October 1980, when the last keepers were withdrawn. The main optic is now an acetylene-operated Dalen revolving pedestal. Thefresnel 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 ...
rotates every 30 seconds. During daylight hours, the lens rotates at a very slow speed to prevent the mantles from deteriorating in strong sunlight. There are 4 mantles in the exchanger systems. Electrical power is provided by batteries, which are automatically recharged by a diesel alternator twice a week. The equipment is monitored by Hyskeir
Hyskeir ( gd, Òigh-sgeir) or Heyskeir is a low-lying rocky islet (a skerry) in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The Hyskeir Lighthouse marks the southern entrance to the Minch.
Geography
Hyskeir lies in the southern entrance to the Minch, 10 kil ...
Lighthouse.
Due to the dangerous landing conditions, Barra Head lighthouse was re-classified by the RNLI as a "Rock Station" early in the 20th century. Two small boats had been swamped and lost in the enormous swell by the slipway at the landing place. The regulations associated with this change prevented both alongside landings by tenders and the lighthouse men keeping dinghies onshore."The Most Dangerous Landing in Scotland"safetybarrahead.com. Retrieved 30 December 2008. The departure of the last of the
crofting
Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production particular to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man.
Within the 19th century townships, individual crofts were established on the bett ...
families meant an end to regular links by sea and the regular mist and fog rendered signalling unreliable. A system of wireless communications with Castlebay on Barra was therefore proposed and installed by 1925.
The pier was built in the late 1930s with the approach of war, when a sophisticated radar system was installed to guard the Western Approaches. This involved the landing of hundreds of steel girders and drums containing steel cables used to create three large radar masts, and a robust "Scots Derrick" was erected to crane them ashore.
A small walled cemetery was constructed halfway between the lighthouse and the summit of Sotan for the keepers. This contains the grave of a visiting inspector and those of a number of the keepers' children. A Blenheim bomber crashed into the cliffs nearby during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, but the wreck was not discovered until many years later by a rock climber.Buxton (1995) pp. 147, 149.
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 ...
* List of Category A listed buildings in the Western Isles
References
* Munro, R.W. (1979) ''Scottish Lighthouses''. Stornoway. Thule Press.External links
Northern Lighthouse Board
{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1833 Lighthouses in Outer Hebrides Category A listed lighthouses Works of Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)