Esha Ness Lighthouse
Shetland
|
Location Guide |
This was the last manned Northern Lighthouse Board major facility designed by a
member of the Stevenson family, in the long line of Stevenson-designed
lighthouses in Scotland.
A temporary light, on an iron tower, powerful
enough to give warning of the Ve Skerries eight and half miles offshore was
erected in 1915 on the Eshaness peninsula on the north-west coast of mainland
Shetland. This light was torn down after World War One. The current Lighthouse
was built in 1929 from concrete because of the unsuitability of local stone. The
37ft tower sits on top of a 200ft cliff.
Eshaness was not totally effective in keeping
ships away from the Ve Skerries. A trawler from Aberdeen wrecking in the
area soon after it was build and all hands were lost. Due to the increase in
heavy oil-tanker traffic to and from Sullom Voe, in 1979 a lighthouse was built
at Ve
Skerries,
and Eshaness was used as the construction
site for it.
The small keepers quarters was unusual in that
it was home to only one keeper, when normally there would be three. It was sold to private owners in 1974
and now operates as
self-catering holiday accommodation.
|
Lighthouse information Grid
|
|
Please let us know any other information that we
can add to the Grid or page and any errors that you discover. Before making a long trip to any location it is always
wise to double check the current information, websites like magazines may be
correct at the time the information is written, but things change and it is of
course impossible to double check all entries on a regular basis. If you have
any good photographs that you feel would improve the illustration of this page
then please let us have copies. In referring to this page it is helpful if you
quote both the Page Ref and Topic or Section references from the Grid below. To print the
planning grid select it then right click and print the selected area.
Please submit information on locations you discover so
that this system continues to grow.
|
