20 January 2010: Cape Wrath Lighthouse

The current occupant of the Keeper’s cottage at Cape Wrath Lighthouse was able to return home this week, 30 days after travelling to Inverness to buy a Christmas turkey. The recent severe weather conditions had made one of the UK’s most remote locations completely inaccessible.

Situated in Sutherland, on the north-western tip of mainland Britain, the remote Lighthouse can only be reached by ferry across the Kyle of Durness, and then along a single track road for a further 12 miles.  The 20m-high Lighthouse tower is built of hand dressed stone, and the rest of the building is made up of large blocks of granite quarried from nearby Clash Carnoch.  Standing at the edge of some of the highest sea-cliffs to be found in the British Isles, Cape Wrath’s beacon is over 120m above sea level, and has a range of 24 miles.

The Lighthouse was converted to automatic status on 31 March 1998, and is now remotely monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board’s offices in Edinburgh.