Rattray Head Lighthouse

Rattray Head Lighthouse is located just offshore on a small skerry named The Ron, to the east of Rattray Head in Aberdeenshire and 7 miles (11 km) north of Peterhead. It comprises the distinctive combination of a round white tower built on a larger round masonry base, which together reach an elevation of 36.5m (120 feet). The lighthouse was the work of David A. Stevenson (1854 - 1938) with his brother Charles Stevenson (1855 - 1950) for the Northern Lighthouse Board, constructed at a cost of £18,949 from 1892. The novel design involved an engine-room and foghorn enclosed within the immense masonry base, which was constructed of 566 cubic m (20,000 cubic feet) of granite from Rubislaw Quarry in Aberdeen. A paraffin-fuelled lamp was first illuminated in 1895 and the light was connected to mains electricity in 1977, now having a range of 24 nautical miles (44 km). It was automated in 1982 and is now monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board Headquarters in Edinburgh.

The lighthouse was attacked by a German aeroplane on 20th September 1941, which dropped three bombs and machine-gunned the lantern, but no-one was injured and the operation of the light was not impaired.


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