Little Ross Island & Lighthouses For Sale

As At September 2017: “Under Offer“

Little Ross Island & Lighthouses For Sale – Under Offer

Sale or sold, on this subject we would offer some advice for our would-be lighthouse dwellers reading this page. Especially those who might consider life on an island station. More of these will come up for sale. We guarantee it. So prepare yourself.

Little Ross Island consists of approximately 29 acres of land with a lighthouse tower (not included in the sale) and the main keepers’ accommodation. This was originally formatted as two separate houses. Built for the Principal Lighthouse Keeper and their neighbour, the First Assistant Lighthouse Keeper. At some point in the mists of time, the two houses have been knocked through and now form one large home. In August 2017 the island and buildings were placed for sale at a guide price of…

£325,000 – Now Under Offer

 

Archived Sale Details: Click Here.

 

Little Ross Island Lighthouses

Photo Courtesy of Sea Kayak Photos

As one who has been lucky enough to live on small islands, the idea is certainly romantic, but the actuality and practicality needs careful thought before jumping into this way of life. There is something I find almost tragic about someone who realises their island dream, only to sell up a year or two later. Or worse, neglect the island and buildings by leaving and letting what is left behind deteriorate into a not so glorious ruin. So my advice and that of this website is…

For some, this is indeed a sublime and wonderously fortunate experience. For others, and Little Ross Island is a terrible exemplar, it can literally drive you over the edge. The tragedy of Little Ross Island is well documented elsewhere. We found a gentle and moving account by retired architect David Collin, who, as a young 15 year old, went across to the island on 18th August 1960 with his family for a picnic and discovered death. What moved us from the first hand account of Mr Collin are his words about the aftermath…

“I sat through the whole court proceedings and whereas there was no doubt of the guilt of the accused, equally in my mind, and I think a great many other people’s minds, there was no doubt he suffered from some form of mental illness. He had a history of mental illness and the defence was insanity but the judge’s direction to the jury, on legal grounds, was that he was guilty.

 

I felt more troubled by seeing a young man sentenced to death in Dumfries surrounded by people that I knew, fellow witnesses and so on. I was far more troubled by that than actually finding the unfortunate victim which really wasn’t that distressing – it was sad but not distressing.

 

What permanently haunts me is having witnessed somebody sentenced to death, I found that horrific.”

 

What resonates with us here at this website are two things. The first is that the layout and majority of features at the Little Ross Island are incredibly similar to where we write this page – from the Lighthouses For Sale website HQ at Noss Head Lighthouse Station. The other thing, and this is what 99% of lighthouse life is like, has to be the history, purpose and spectacularly beautiful coastal location of lighthouses. The finest way we can sum this up is returning to the words of David Collin:-

 

“My memory of that day is perhaps more of the principal keeper’s beautiful little house – his friendly dog, his budgie in the cage, the neatness and tidiness that prevailed.

 

“The Northern Lighthouse Board keepers were required to keep everything spick and span. Everything that could be polished was polished, everything was neat and tidy, they never knew when they were going to be inspected. Inspections reflected very badly on their future promotion prospects if they hadn’t kept everything smart.”

 

As a disciplined and uniformed service, the Northern Lighthouse Board kept their estates in first class condition. Even with the retiral of all full time keepers, the buildings that are still owned and maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board are kept in pristine condition. That is no mean achievement given the inexorable and unrelenting battle with elements that these structures and those who tend them have to fight.

The least we as lighthouse dwellers in the former keepers’ buildings can do, is make best efforts to ensure that what we are now custodians of, are kept in as near to NLB class and condition as possible.

 

We wish the new owners at Little Ross Island all the very best in their new lighthouse life.

Little Ross Island Characteristics:

Range: 22.22km

Focal Height: 50 metres

Height: 22 metres.

Year Constructed: 1843.

Year Automated: 1961.

Location: Little Ross Island; Kirkcudbright; Dumfries and Galloway; Scotland.

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Little Ross Island -Estate Agency Brochure

Archived For Reference