Background
- Listing: Category A
- Date of building: 1788-1789
- Dennis Head Old Beacon Gallery
- Dennis Head Old Beacon Virtual Tour
Construction began in 1788 under the supervision of the engineer Thomas Smith, an Edinburgh light maker and prolific lighthouse builder. Assisting Smith was his stepson Robert Stevenson, first of the famous family of engineers and grandfather to Robert Louis Stevenson. By 1789, Dennis Head Old Beacon - a 70 foot tower in undressed stone - had been completed, along with two lightkeeper's dwellings and dry stone punds for keeping sheep off the arable areas.
Despite the comparatively high-tech nature of the beacon it was often mistaken for a shepherd's lantern or the masthead of another vessel by mariners, a mistake which too frequently cost them their own ship on Ronaldsay's submerged rocks. The light was finally removed and in 1809 was replaced by a stone ball 8 feet in diameter, which had originally topped the tower at Start Point in Sanday. A new lighthouse was built in 1854.
Today the old beacon is the most complete purpose-built lighthouse tower of its era in Scotland. A multi-phase plan for restoration initially includes the reinstatement of stairs, the removal of over a century’s accumulated bird droppings and the stabilization and repair of the most fragile elements of the structure. Later phases will see the rebuilding of the light keeper’s dwellings, and the restoration of the Grade B listed lighthouse cottages. It is hoped that the eventual redevelopment of these buildings as a combined learning resource, living heritage site and tourist attraction will benefit both visitors and the local economy.
