Skerryvore (from the Scottish Gaelic An Sgeir Mhòr meaning "The Great Skerry") is a remote island that lies off the west coast of Scotland, southwest of Tiree. Skerryvore Lighthouse is located on these rocks, built with some difficulty between 1838 and 1844 by Alan Stevenson.
At a height of it is the tallest lighthouse in Scotland. "Historical Information" Northern Lighthouse Board. Retrieved 17 January 2008. The shore station was at Hynish on Tiree (which now houses the Skerryvore Lighthouse Museum); operations were later transferred to Erraid, west of Mull. The remoteness of the location led to the keepers receiving additional payments in kind.Munro (1979) pp. 181–2. The light shone without a break from 1844 until a fire in 1954 shut down operations for five years. The lighthouse was automated in 1994.
Steadily rising sea levels would then have slowly isolated and finally all but submerged the shoals of Skerryvore, a barrier of innumerable Metamorphic rock remnants that stretch for lying in a south-westerly direction. A detailed survey undertaken in 1834 listed more than 130 main rocks including Am Bonn Sligheach (Boinshley) () and Am Bogha Ruadh ().Bathhurst (2000) p. 150.
The rocks have been worn smooth by the action of the waves and are constantly affected by spray. Alan Stevenson wrote: "The effect of the jet d'eau was at times extremely beautiful, the water being so broken as to form a snow-white and opaque pillar, surrounded by a fine vapour in which, during sunshine, beautiful rainbows were observed ".Stevenson, Alan (1848) Account of the Skerryvore Lighthouse, with notes on Lighthouse Illumination. Quoted in Nicholson (1995)
It is an isolated outpost of the Inner Hebrides archipelago composed of Lewisian complex, formed in the Precambrian eon, these rocks being amongst the most ancient rocks in Europe.Nicholson (1995) p. 105. "Geopark" Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve. Retrieved 26 January 2008. A further hazard to shipping is a Magnetic Anomaly in the area.Baird, Bob (1995) Shipwrecks of the West of Scotland. Glasgow. Nekton. p. 188.
Later that year an Act of Parliament was passed enabling construction of a lighthouse, yet despite pleas for a light arriving almost weekly at the NLB, events proceeded only slowly. It was not until 1834 that Robert Stevenson returned in the company of his son Alan Stevenson. A painstaking survey made it clear that there was little choice for a location. The single largest area was a rock that measured only at low tide. Readings for wave pressure indicated that any tower would have to withstand forces of . There were suggestions that a tower of cast iron or bronze might be sufficient, but Stevenson senior wrote that "no pecuniary consideration could in my opinion have justified the adoption of an iron lighthouse for Skerryvore."Nicholson (1995) p. 99.Munro (1979) p. 112.Bathhurst (2000) p. 149. On more than one occasion the surveyors had to warn passing vessels of the danger. A ship from Newcastle, whose charts showed only the main rock some miles away, was boarded near Bo Ruadh. The Master, oblivious to the dangers, was found lying at ease smoking a pipe with his wife beside him knitting stockings.Nicholson (1995) pp. 98–9.Bathhurst (2000) pp. 150–2.
Still the Commissioners prevaricated, daunted by the potential costs, estimated by Robert Stevenson at £63,000. They set up a special Skerryvore Committee, whose members decided to visit the site by steamer to see for themselves. Just off Skerryvore a fire broke out in the boiler room crippling the ship. It was extinguished and no harm was done, but the experience may have been persuasive.Bathhurst (2000) p. 153.
Alan Stevenson was duly appointed as the engineer for the project aged only 30. He designed a tower high with a base of , narrowing to just at the lantern gallery. The lowest sections would be solid, although at feet high they were less than half the height of the base of the later light at nearby Dubh Artach. Nonetheless, the structure would weigh and the volume of the base would be more than 4 times larger than the entire structure of the Eddystone light and twice that of the Inchcape. With 151 steps to the top it would be the tallest and heaviest lighthouse yet built anywhere in the modern world, and today it is still one of the tallest lighthouse in the United Kingdom.Munro (1979) p. 114.In the ancient world the Pharos of Alexandria was probably taller. See for example "The Great Lighthouse at Alexandria" unmuseum.org. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
Initial work began on the rock on 7 August 1838. Stevenson and 21 workmen arrived on board the sailing vessel Pharos and began to unload the barrack, whose massive legs were set into holes blasted out of the rock. After only two days the site had to be abandoned as a storm swept in from the Atlantic. It was a further six days before they could resume the punishing schedule of 16 hours a day work between 4 am and 8 pm. Fearing sea sickness, many of the man preferred to attempt to sleep on the damp rocks than on the ever-rolling Pharos.Nicholson (1995) p. 101.
Work for the season lasted only until 11 September, by which time the barrack legs had been secured although not the main structure. Less than two months later Stevenson received a letter from the storekeeper at Hynish, Mr. Hogben. It began: "Dear Sir, I am extremely sorry to inform you that the barrack erected on Skerryvore Rock has totally disappeared." The structure had been destroyed during a gale on 3 November and four months effort had been wasted.Bathhurst (2000) p. 166. Stevenson hired a boat to take him out to inspect the damage the same day he received this news. Firm in his self-belief, he resolved to build a stronger but otherwise identical replacement. Work began in April 1839 and by early September the completed barrack stood above the rock. Entry was via ladders attached to the legs that led into the lowest level containing a kitchen. The middle level contained two cabins, one for Stevenson, the other for his master of works, whilst the top level provided sleeping quarters for a further 30 to 40 men.Nicholson (1995) p. 102.
Work on the foundations for the lighthouse continued until 30 September. A total of 296 charges were used to remove of rock and Stevenson believed that the rock was so hard that the effort involved was four times that required for boring Aberdeenshire granite. The work went well but by the end of the second season, no blocks had yet been laid. However, between April 1839 and June 1840 4,300 blocks had been fashioned, the stone donated by the Duke of Argyll from quarries on Mull. The roughly hewn rock was taken to Hynish where the blocks were hammered and chiselled into shape. The largest weighed over , the smallest and the precision required meant that a single block could take 320 worker-hours to complete.Nicholson (1995) pp. 104–5. The author states the charges used were dynamite, but this was not invented for another two decades.
Soon up to 95 blocks a day were arriving from Hynish, although the weather continued to play its part. During the summer of 1840 the steamer was unable to reach the reef for fourteen consecutive days, and on another occasion no landings were possible for seven weeks and supplies began to run low. When work ceased again in the autumn, 800 tons of granite standing high stood on Skerryvore, and up to 80 craftsmen continued to labour on the blocks at Hynish all winter. The first three courses of the base are of hard Hynish gneiss, the remainder are granite from the Ross of Mull.Munro (1979) p. 116.
Work continued during 1841–42, a crane being used to hoist the huge blocks as the tower rose. The last one was raised to the parapet in July 1842. Robert Stevenson, then aged 70, visited the site on his last annual voyage of inspection. The walls at the base are thick, and thick at the top. The lightroom and lantern sit above nine apartments in diameter. The total cost of the works undertaken by the Northern Lighthouse Board was £86,977, including the cost of establishing the shore station at Hynish, estimated at £13,000. It is a credit to Stevenson, his foreman Charles Stewart, and Captain Macurich the landing master, that not a single life was lost during the construction.Nicholson (1995) p. 108.There was however at least one serious injury. A workman called Charles Barclay lost a hand at Skerryvore, although in 1846 he was the foreman for the construction of a new light at Muckle Flugga. Munro (1979) p. 133. Skerryvore Northern Lighthouse Board. Retrieved 21 May 2016
Skerryvore was Alan Stevenson's greatest achievements from both an engineering and aesthetic perspective. No Philistinism, he chose a hyberbolic curve for the outline for stylistic reasons.Bathhurst (2000) p. 163. His nephew Robert Louis described it as "the noblest of all extant deep-sea lights" and according to the Northern Lighthouse Board it is "asserted by some that Skerryvore is the world's most graceful lighthouse". "Alan Stevenson (1807–1865)" Bellrock.org.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2008.Bathhurst (2000) p. 146.
James Tomison, who became a keeper in 1861, wrote of the bird migrations visible from the tower: "Hundreds of birds are flying about in all directions, crossing and re-crossing one another's flight, but never coming into collision, all seemingly of the opinion that the only way of escape out of the confusion into which they have got is through the windows of the lantern". A fog bell had been installed by then, one of only two operating in Scotland at the time.Munro (1979) pages 150 and 187.
The adverse conditions faced by the keepers resulted in them receiving additional payments in kind, but the remote location suited some veterans. Archibald McEachern was assistant keeper for 14 years from 1870 to 1884 and John Nicol was principal from 1890 to 1903. The latter was involved in a dramatic rescue when the liner Labrador en route from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool ran aground on the nearby Mackenzie's Rock in 1899. The lifeboats were manned and two made it to Mull, but one with eighteen passengers reached the lighthouse where they were looked after for two and a half days before they could be taken to the mainland. There were no deaths and Nicol and his two assistants were commended by the NLB for their efforts.Munro (1979) pp. 181–2.
John Muir, who served as a keeper with the NLB for 39 years all told, had a posting to Skerryvore from 1902 to 1914. He helped complete a new "landing grating", as the slender metal walkway was called, that made landings possible in conditions previously considered "hopeless". He baked his own bread and scones and made an inlaid table and Iona marble inkstand.Munro (1979) p. 221
The visual similarity between Skerryvore and Dubh Artach to the south east, led to the NLB painting a distinctive red band round the middle section of the latter in 1890.Nicholson (1995) p. 155. The Hynish Shore Station had the advantage of proximity to the site during the construction period. However, the small harbour offered little shelter for shipping. The keepers operated from here until 1892 when operations were transferred to Erraid adjacent to the Isle of Mull. Other than the signal tower, the land and buildings on Tiree were sold to George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll who had witnessed the laying of the first stone on Skerryvore fifty-two years previously. A paddle steamer, Signal, built by Laird of Greenock in 1883 was based at Erraid for relief operations.Munro (1979) p. 193. The shore station was moved to Oban in the 1950s. "Introducing Erraid" Erraid.com Retrieved 25 January 2008.Munro (1979) p. 278
In 1916 mines were laid in the vicinity of the rock by the German submarines SM U-71 and SM U-78. "History of German Naval Warfare 1914–1918" National Archives, Kew: HW 7/3, Room 40. Retrieved 21 November 2009. In July 1940 during World War II a stick of bombs was dropped by a passing German plane. The explosion cracked two lantern panes and shattered one of the incandescent mantles.Munro (1979) p. 229.
A disastrous fire started on the seventh floor on the night of 16 March 1954 and spread downwards. The keepers had no time to raise the alarm and were driven out of the lighthouse onto the rocks but rescued the next day when the relief vessel arrived as part of its regular schedule. The heat of the fire caused damage to both the interior and the structure and a lightship and series of temporary lights were installed during reconstruction. Three new generators were placed in the lighthouse to provide an electric light source, the lantern being re-lit on 6 August 1959.Nicholson (1995) p. 109.
A helipad was constructed in 1972 to enable relief trips to be undertaken without the need for perilous sea landings. The lighthouse has been fully automated since 31 March 1994 and is monitored via a radio link to Ardnamurchan lighthouse.Nicholson (1995) p. 112. The Northern Lighthouse Board, which has had its headquarters at 84 George Street in Edinburgh since 1832, remotely monitors the light.
The Hynish tower has been converted to house the Skerryvore Lighthouse Museum, run by the Hebridean Trust who have also restored the pier. "Isle of Tiree" Hebridean Trust. Retrieved 23 January 2008. It is now possible to visit Skerryvore with Tiree-based Tiree Sea Tours. tireeimages.com. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
Shore station
Barrack and foundation
Tower
Fitting out
Keepers
Post-construction events
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links
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