St Abb's Head Lighthouse stands on the cliffs at the rocky

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

St Abb's Head St Abb's Head is a rocky promontory by the village of St Abbs in Berwickshire, Scotland, and a national nature reserve administered by the National Trust for Scotland. St Abb's Head Lighthouse was designed and built by the brothers David Ste ...

, near the village of St Abbs in

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

. A signal station was established on the cliffs before 1820 and the facilities were shared by

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

and

Her Majesty's Coastguard His Majesty's Coastguard (HMCG) is the section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible, through the Secretary of State for Transport to Parliament, for the initiation and co-ordination of all maritime search and rescue (SAR) within ...

. The

Northern Lighthouse Board The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) is the general lighthouse authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for ocean, marine navigation aids around coastal areas. History The NLB was formed by ...

recommended the building of a lighthouse at St Abb's Head after the sinking of the ''Martello'' on Carr Rock in 1857. The lighthouse was designed and built by the brothers David Stevenson and

Thomas Stevenson Thomas Stevenson President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, PRSE MInstCE FRSSA FSAScot (22 July 1818 – 8 May 1887) was a pioneering Scottish civil engineer, lighthouse designer and meteorologist, who designed over thirty lighthouses in and ...

and assisted navigation before and after sight of the Bell Rock and

Isle of May An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

lights disappeared from view. The light began service on 24 February 1862 and initially used oil to generate its light, it was converted to

incandescent Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by the thermal motion of particles in matter. All matter with a temperature greater than absolute zero emits thermal radiation. The emission of energy arises from a combination of electro ...

power in 1906 and to electricity in 1966 and finally automated in 1993. Before automation the lighthouse was staffed by three full-time keepers whose duties included keeping detailed weather records. The lighthouse has two km of single-track tarmaced road leading to it from the main road near St Abbs village, however it is suggested by the National Trust for Scotland that it is only used by disabled visitors, and there is limited parking. Visitors can walk to the Head where the lighthouse's buildings, though still in good repair, are not open to the public. A

foghorn A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. ...

was established at the Head in 1876, being the first audible fog signal in Scotland. The original foghorn was driven by

hot air engine A hot air engine (historically called an air engine or caloric theory, caloric engine) is any heat engine that uses the expansion and contraction of air under the influence of a temperature change to convert thermal energy into mechanical work. ...

s before being replaced by oil driven ones in 1911 and then by

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s in December 1955. The fog signal was discontinued in 1987 although the horn is still in place and can be reached at the edge of the cliffs by a railed path from the lighthouse.Northern Lighthouse Board.
Gives details of Lighthouse.''National Trust for Scotland Information leaflet on St Abbs Head'', Gives general information on the Head.

References

External links

Northern Lighthouse Board

– StAbbs Head
St. Abbs Head Lighthouse
– Northern Lighthouse Board Berwickshire Lighthouses in Scotland Category B listed lighthouses {{Europe-lighthouse-stub

See also

References

External links