Sitting on top of the steep cliffs on Skate Point, the western spine of Berneray the most southerly of the Western Isles, is Barra Head Lighthouse. This is the most westerly of Scotland's active lighthouses. Built 211m (693 feet) above sea level, the 18m (59-foot) white tower was completed in 1833 by engineer Robert Stevenson (1772 - 1850), assisted by his son Alan (1807-65), who had chosen its location carefully at the southern end of the Minch as part of his network of lights. A radio beacon was installed here in 1936.
The lighthouse keepers comprised the only residents of the island and they were withdrawn when the light was automated in 1980. Its acetylene-gas powered light and other equipment was for a time remotely monitored by the Hyskeir Lighthouse, which lies some 48 miles (77 km) to the northeast but it is now monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board Headquarters in Edinburgh
