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http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ |
| Dennis Head Old Beacon on North Ronaldsay was the third lighthouse in Scotland. The location was decided from a pioneering chart made by Orkney-based Murdoch McKenzie, which first mapped depths and areas of danger off the UK coast including North Ronaldsay's 'reefdyke' - a notorious shipwreck hotspot. |  Dennis Head Old Beacon
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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.
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The completed beacon was first lit on 10 October 1789. Its lighting system was state-of-the-art for the time – a 'catadioptric' or reflecting system, which consisted of a cluster of oil-burning lamps whose light was dispersed by reflectors covered in facets of mirror glass.
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.
North Ronaldsay is the most northern of the Orkneys, an archipelago of around 70 islands off the northern coast of Scotland. Distant from the other Orkney Islands and surrounded by treacherous waters, North Ronaldsay is home to an isolated community of just 60 people. As a result of its isolation this generally elderly population enjoys a very distinct cultural tradition. Currently there are little more than a handful of children in the community's school.
The traditional local industries are sheep farming and subsistence crofting, though tourism has also contributed to the local economy in recent decades.
This article can be found on the Internet at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/restoration/2006/scotland_dennis_head_old_beacon_01.shtml
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