Alternative Names Mull Lighthouse; Mull Of Kintyre Lighthouse; Kintyre Light; Carskiey
Site type LIGHTHOUSE
Canmore ID 38215
Site Number NR50NE 2.00
NGR NR 58740 08412
Council ARGYLL AND BUTE
Parish SOUTHEND
Former Region STRATHCLYDE
Former District ARGYLL AND BUTE
Former County ARGYLL

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This shore lighthouse guards the E side of the N Channel, the northern entrance to the Irish (Celtic) Sea. In practice, it is often obscured by fog, and is situated too far NW to guard the entrance to the Clyde. It was built by Thomas Smith and lit in 1787 or 1788, as one of the initial programme of four lighthouses built by the Commissioners of Northern Lights; the others were Kinnaird Head, Eilean Glas, Scalpay, and the original light on Dennis Head, North Ronaldsay, Orkney. The original light was rebuilt 'in a more permanent form' between 1821 and 1830, in keeping with the Commissioners''national establishment' policy. This station was an early receipient (c. 1876) of a fog signal. The light was altered from fixed to group flashing in 1906, the power being increased from 8,000 to 281,000cp at the same time. It was electrified (and further increased to 1,515,000cp) in 1976.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 28 April 2006.

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Archaeological Notes

NR50NE 2.00 58740 08412

Mull Lighthouse [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1979.

NR50NE 2.01 NR 5904 0722 Lower Horn House
NR50NE 2.02 NR 5802 0722 Lower Horn House
NR50NE 2.03 NR 5868 0838 Upper Horn House

For building (not necessarily associated with the lighthouse) at NR 5894 0837, see NR50NE 5.

NMRS REFERENCE:
Mull of Kintyre, Lighthouse.
Architect and Engineer: Mr Kay and Thomas Smith. 1786-88.
(Undated) information in NMRS.

Mull of Kintyre lighthouse was originally established in 1788 and the circular tower of harled rubble masonry which forms the nucleus of the present complex of buildings probably dates from this period. The house on the NE dates from 1857 and that on the SE from 1883. An early reflecting mechanism from the lighthouse is preserved in Campbeltown Museum.
RCAHMS 1971.

(Location cited as NR 587 084 and name as Mull of Kintyre Lighthouse). Built 1786-8 for the Trustees for Northern Lighthouses by engineer Thomas Smith. A short circular tower with triangular-paned top lantern and single-storey flat-roofed keepers' houses. The tower has a neat iron railing round its corbelled walkway and is probably original.
J R Hume 1977.

This shore lighthouse guards the E side of the N Channel, the northern entrance to the Irish (Celtic) Sea. In practice, it is often obscured by fog, and is situated too far NW to guard the entrance to the Clyde. It was built by Thomas Smith and lit in 1787 or 1788, as one of the initial programme of four lighthouses built by the Commissioners of Northern Lights; the others were Kinnaird Head, Eilean Glas, Scalpay, and the original light on Dennis Head, North Ronaldsay, Orkney. The original light was rebuilt 'in a more permanent form' between 1821 and 1830, in keeping with the Commissioners''national establishment' policy. This station was an early receipient (c. 1876) of a fog signal. The light was altered from fixed to group flashing in 1906, the power being increased from 8,000 to 281,000cp at the same time. It was electrified (and further increased to 1,515,000cp) in 1976.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 28 April 2006.

Notes and Activities

1788	CONSTRUCTION

Notes Light established in 1788.
K Allardyce and E M Hood 1998

Further details

1971	FIELD VISIT

Notes Mull of Kintyre lighthouse was originally established in 1788 and the circular tower of harled rubble masonry which forms the nucleus of the present complex of buildings probably dates from this period. The house on the NE dates from 1857 and that on the SE from 1883. An early reflecting mechanism from the lighthouse is preserved in Campbeltown Museum.
RCAHMS 1971.

Further details

Books and References

Allardyce and Hood, K and E M (1986) At Scotland's edge: a celebration of two hundred years of the lighthouse service in Scotland and the Isle of Man, Glasgow
Page(s): 11, 14, 17, 18, 19, 33, 38, 44, 94-5, 154 Held at RCAHMS J.6.4.ALL

Bathurst, B (1999) The lighthouse Stevensons: the extraordinary story of the building of the Scottish lighthouses by the ancestors of Robert Louis Stevenson, London
Page(s): 21, 25, 245 Held at RCAHMS J.6.4.BAT

Hay and Stell, G D and G P (1986) Monuments of industry, Edinburgh
Page(s): 190 Held at RCAHMS A.1.5.HAY

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