Dunnet Head Lighthouse

Light Established 1831
Engineer Robert Stevenson
Builder James Smith of Inverness
Position Latitude 58° 40.3’N Longitude 03° 22.4’W
Character Flashing (4)White every 30 Secs
Elevation. 105 metres
Nominal Range 23 miles
Structure White stone tower, 20 metres high.
There are 51 steps and 9 ladder steps up to top of lighthouse tower.
History
Dunnet Head Lighthouse marks the most northerly point of the Scottish mainland. Erosion of the rock on which the original fog signal (built in 1899) stood, made it necessary to abandon it and to establish another fog signal nearer the lighthouse. A third fog signal was established in 1952, but this was discontinued in 1987. Dunnet Head was changed to a dioptric lens (being a combination of lenses with reflectors) in 1852.
The lighthouse was automated on 31 March 1989 and is now remotely monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board’s headquarters in Edinburgh.


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