Butt of Lewis Lighthouse

Located on the northernmost tip of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, the Butt of Lewis lighthouse lies a mile (1.5 km) north of the hamlet of Eoropie and 19 miles (30 km) north of Stornoway. Built in 1862 by the noted engineering brothers David (1815-86) and Thomas Stevenson (1818-87) its tower rises to 37m (121 feet) and is, less usually for Scottish lighthouses, constructed in red brick.

The light has a range of 25 miles (40 km) and was most-likely originally fuelled by fish oil, although this was replaced by a paraffin burner is 1869 which continued in use until electrification in 1976. A foghorn can still be seen nearby, although its use was discontinued in 1995.

Since the early 1930s the Butt of Lewis lighthouse has acted as a communications relay for the lighthouse on the remote Flannan Isles to the west of Lewis. After the Flannan Isles lighthouse was automated in 1971, this communications link provided remote monitoring and today the Butt of Lewis provides similar facilities for the lights on North Rona and Sula Sgeir, as well as acting as the radio control station for the North Minch area and as a GPS navigation base station.

The lighthouse was automated in 1998 and is now continuously monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board Headquarters based in Edinburgh. It is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the windiest location in the United Kingdom.


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