Ruvaal Lighthouse


(Rhuvaal Lighthouse)

A tall and majestic lighthouse at the northern tip of Islay in Argyll and Bute, Ruvaal was completed in 1859 to designs by engineer David Stevenson (1815-86) and his younger brother Thomas Stevenson (1818-87). It comprises a white-painted brick tower 34m (112 feet) in height and 5.8m (19 feet) in diameter, with a range of 24 nautical miles (44 km). The contractor was A. MacDonald and the cost amounted to £6500. It was B-listed in 1971. A helicopter crashed after it struck a pole it was trying to install as part of a contract to bring mains power to the lighthouse in 1981. There were no injuries and the pilot survived. A new light system was installed the following year. The lighthouse was subsequently automated in 1983 and the lightkeepers' cottages are now privately owned. It is now remotely-controlled from the Northern Lighthouse Board Headquarters in Edinburgh.


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