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Lighthouses
in Shetland.

It’s 21:36 in Shetland.
Shetland Islands

Stevenson lights at Sumburgh and Bressay.

The Stevensons lit Shetland's coast, and their towers still stand white on its headlands. At the southern tip of the Mainland, Robert Stevenson's light of 1821 sits high on the cliff at Sumburgh Head. It was the first in the islands, and its keepers' houses are now a visitor centre, with puffins nesting on the cliffs around it. Across the sound from Lerwick, a tower of 1858 on Bressay guards the way into the harbour, and its old lens is now on show in the town's museum. Take the short ferry to Bressay, and go to Sumburgh between May and July for the puffins.

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Lighthouse of the day16 hours ago

Sumburgh Head Lighthouse.

A Stevenson light on the cliff, with puffins below.

Read about it
True or false10 hours ago

True or false: Muckle Flugga, the lighthouse rock off Unst in Shetland, is the northernmost point of the British Isles.

From the magazine5 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 10Issue 10Spring / Summer 2025

The photographer Conor Gault was five when he flew by helicopter to Fair Isle, in Shetland, to see his grandfather Bill, Scotland's last lighthouse keeper, at the closing ceremony.

Bill Gault turned off the light at Fair Isle South Lighthouse in 1998, and Conor still remembers the day: 'I remember the feeling of travelling to the island on a helicopter, and my kilt socks itching my legs'. It was the only time he visited a station with his Granda, apart from Kinnaird Head in Fraserburgh, where Bill went on to work as a tour guide for the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses. Conor became a freelance photographer in 2018, after studying at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. In 2023, when the museum marked 25 years since automation, he went along to meet some of the last keepers, and photographed them and their families for his project.

Read the full story in Issue 10
LunchJust nowShetland IslandsFjarå Café Bar2.7 milesShetland IslandsNo88 Kitchen and Bar2.7 milesShetland IslandsPeerie Shop Café2.7 miles

Lunch near Bressay Lighthouse.

The three good places closest to it: Fjarå Café Bar, No88 Kitchen and Bar and Peerie Shop Café.

See Bressay Lighthouse

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