Stoer Head

FOR ENQUIRY ?

 LHFS Stoer Head Mary and Angus Hogg

 Stoer Head Lighthouse Buildings – Possibly Including Derelict Barn

Photograph – NOT The Owners (c) Mary & Angus Hogg

Lighthouse Tower Excluded

The Stoer Head lighthouse buildings [excluding the tower] have very recently sold. If you are really keen, a polite enquiry to the new owner via post might solicit whether they would consider selling one or more parts of their new domain? Ostensibly there are two self catering flats, and perhaps one derelict bothy a little outwith the main lighthouse compound.

What we do know is this style of approach has worked at other lighthouse compounds.

PLEASE let us know if you write and get a response. We do NOT want the new owners plagued with letters, no matter how nice the content is phrased.

Also if the new owners read this webpage, and would like to include their new self catering flats on this website, please feel free to get in touch …

Lighthouses For Sale or Rent: Click Here To Contact

As soon as we become aware of the current position – whether an onward sale of part or all of this site might be permissible at the right price, or if it is a long term holiday destination we shall do our best to update this page and help the owners.

If you did feel like writing a letter of enquiry to the new owners who have just taken possession of this lighthouse compound, the likely addresses to post to are:-

The Lighthouse Company Ltd., Caledonian Exchange, 19a Canning Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8HE.

and/or ….

The Proprietor, Lower Flat, Stoer Head Lighthouse, Lochinver, Lairg, Sutherland, IV27 4JH.

and/or ….

The Proprietor, Upper Flat, Stoer Head Lighthouse, Lochinver, Lairg, Sutherland, IV27 4JH.

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Onto the general background of Stoer Head Lighthouse ….

 LHFS Stoer Head Closer Mary and Angus Hogg

 Stoer Head Lighthouse Buildings

Photograph – NOT The Owners (c) Mary & Angus Hogg

 

Northern Lighthouse Board Description…

The lighthouse here at Stoer Head is one of nearly 200 that are located all around Scotland’s wild coastline. Operated and maintained by the Northern Lighthouse Board they warn ships of dangerous waters and provide important navigational information. Between 1797 and 1938 Robert Stevenson and his descendants designed most of Scotland’s Lighthouses, including this dramatic building. The remote and challenging lighthouse locations underwrite an amazing historical achievement.

Robert Stevenson’s talented family also included the famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson (his grandson). Visits with his father to remote lighthouses are thought to have inspired his books Kidnapped and Treasure Island.

Very little has been written about the history of Stoer Head Lighthouse. It wasn’t until 1853 that regular Wreck Returns were kept and figures for 1859-66 showed that an average of 24 vessels a year were stranded on sands and rocks around the Scottish coast. Alan and Thomas Stevenson had now taken over as engineers for the Northern Lighthouse Board and they prepared a list of 45 possible sites thought to be desirable to complete a system of lights for the coasts of Scotland, Stoer Head was included in this list. But it was not until 1870 that the light marking the headland of the Point of Stoer was finally built. Although the lighthouse is relatively short (only 14 metres high) its elevation above sea level is 54 metres.

A Principal Lightkeeper and an Assistant and their families lived at Stoer Head until the light became automated in 1978. They were quite self sufficient and nearby you can see the remains of the former byre, stable, cow shed, pig house and cart shed all built for life at the lighthouse station. The Lightkeepers’ children were educated at Stoer Public School, however there were no senior schools in the county of Sutherland so the children had to continue their education away from the lighthouse at boarding school. Lightkeeping was a remote, lonely and hard existence. One task overruled everything: the light must burn at maximum intensity throughout the hours of darkness.

During long winter nights, the need to constantly check everything and trim the lamp wicks every four hours was extremely demanding.

The lighting system is an array of sealed-beam electric lamps, as used by locomotives for headlights. When daylight falls and rises between set levels a small light sensor automatically switches the banks of lights on and off.

The light is monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board’s offices in Edinburgh and is visited on a regular basis by a local person to carry out basic maintenance and cleaning. Once a year the Northern Lighthouse Board Technicians visit the light to carry out maintenance.

It should be noted that at some sites the Northern Lighthouse Board have sold some redundant buildings within the lighthouse complex and are not responsible for the maintenance of these building.