Mull of Galloway Lighthouse

Mull of Galloway Lighthouse
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Mull of Galloway Lighthouse

The Mull of Galloway Lighthouse is located at Scotland's most southerly point and provides a beacon for shipping passing through the channel between the Rhins of Galloway and Northern Ireland, which lies just 24 miles (40 km) to the southwest. Lying 4 miles (6.5 km) south of Drummore, the light comprises a white tower, 26m (85 feet) in height, although it sits on top of a cliff which increases its height to 99m (324 feet). The lighthouse was built in 1830 at a cost of almost £9000 by the noted engineer Robert Stevenson (1772 - 1850), with the keepers' cottages and other associated buildings clustered around the base. The light has a range of 28 miles (45 km).

On 8th June 1944, a Bristol Beaufighter aircraft, flying in fog, crashed into the lighthouse stores building killing two.

The light was converted to electricity in 1971, using an efficient and easily maintained sealed-beam light unit. The Mull of Galloway Lighthouse was automated in 1988 and is now remotely monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board Headquarters in Edinburgh. It is open to the public during the summer and the lightkeepers' cottages, which have passed to the National Trust for Scotland, are let as holiday accommodation but the keepers' gardens are now overgrown.


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