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A white lighthouse with a black lantern room stands on a rocky shore, seaweed-covered rocks and grass filling the foreground.
Dumfries and Galloway

Southerness Lighthouse

Scotland's second-oldest lighthouse, a square white tower of 1749 on Southerness Point at the mouth of the Nith on the Solway.

Welcome

On the rocky point at Southerness, where the Solway Firth opens out, stands a tall, square white tower with a black lantern.

Built in 1749, Southerness lighthouse is the second-oldest lighthouse in Scotland.

It was put up by Dumfries town council to guide ships through the Solway towards the port. Robert Stevenson, of the famous lighthouse family, improved it in 1805, and in the 1840s it was raised to its present height of about seventeen metres. It was restored in 1894 by Georgiana Blackett of nearby Arbigland, and its light finally went out in 1936.

Today it is a listed landmark at the edge of the village, a fine sight from the shore, with the Solway stretching away beyond. The tower is not open inside.

A little further outMabie House HotelA 17th-century country house hotel in Mabie Forest, three and a half miles from Dumfries, beside the 7stanes mountain bike trails.21 min by roadSee itBurger stacked with onion rings, chips and a pint of beer at the bar
Before you go

Seen from the shore at any time; the tower is not open inside.

Where
Southerness Point, DG2 8AZ.
Built
1749.
Rank
Scotland's second-oldest lighthouse.

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Where it is

On Southerness Point, at the edge of the village of Southerness on the Solway coast, DG2 8AZ.

Close byThe Solway coast.
  1. White-painted inn with lit windows overlooking a grassy slope at duskThe Steamboat Inn, CarsethornA family-run inn in the village of Carsethorn on the Solway shore, with seafood, Sunday lunches, a beer garden and views over the Solway.5 miles 11 min by road
  2. Trig point on a grassy summit overlooking a distant coastline and seaCriffelThe hill above the coast.6 miles 12 min by road
  3. Sandyhills BeachSandyhills BeachA sandy bay along the coast.7 miles 13 min by road
  4. Ruined sandstone abbey walls with gothic windows rise above a gravestone-filled churchyardSweetheart AbbeyA red sandstone abbey at New Abbey.9 miles 15 min by road
  5. Cheese wheels and wedges displayed on wooden counters in a farm shopLoch Arthur Creamery and Farm ShopA Camphill community that has been making its own cheese since 1985.14 miles 28 min by road
Directions

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The Daily for 23 October, from Scotland with love. Aerial view of a concrete road bridge with angled supports spanning a sea loch, twin cloud-wrapped mountain peaks rising behind autumn-coloured hills.

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CollectionLighthouses in Scotland You Can Actually Reach
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