Hidden Scotland
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Lybster Harbour and Lighthouse, CaithnessAt the bottom of a steep lane below Lybster, the Reisgill Burn meets the sea in a snug little harbour between two grassy headlands.

Lighthouses
in Scotland.

9° and cloudy at Lybster Harbour and Lighthouse just now.
Where in Scotland?
Lighthouses

Where in Scotland?

Choose a part of Scotland to see its lighthouses, or scroll on for them all.

Caithness→
Argyll and Bute→
Isle of Skye→
Dumfries and Galloway→
Aberdeenshire→
Ross and Cromarty→
Shetland Islands→
Outer Hebrides→
Lighthouse of the day17 hours ago

Dun Ardtreck and Ardtreck Point Lighthouse.

An Iron Age fort on a rocky knoll above the sea, and a small white light on the point beyond.

Read about it
Did you know15 hours ago

The foghorn on the cliffs at the Mull of Galloway, Scotland's most southerly point, is the only working foghorn on mainland Scotland.

A foghorn has stood here since 1894, and the lighthouse keepers sounded it whenever visibility out to sea dropped below four miles. It fell silent in November 1987. After the Mull of Galloway Trust, a local charity, took over the land and buildings, the South Rhins Community Development Trust led the restoration of the three vintage Kelvin diesel engines that make its compressed air, and in April 2018 the horn sounded again. On set Sundays through the season, visitors can hear the engines and the foghorn, with entry by donation.

Read about it
From our collectionsA collection14 hours agoEaster RossTarbat Ness LighthouseThe Black IsleChanonry LighthouseOuter HebridesEilean Glas LighthouseIsle of SkyeNeist PointDumfries and GallowayMull of Galloway LighthouseCaithnessNoss Head LighthouseFifeElie Ness LighthouseAberdeenshireMuseum of Scottish LighthousesArdnamurchanArdnamurchan PointAssyntStoer Lighthouse

Lighthouses in Scotland You Can Actually Reach

Most Scottish lighthouses sit on rocks and islands you'd need a boat to get to, but plenty stand on headlands you can walk or drive right up to, and the view is worth the trip on its own. These are the ones you can reach.

See the whole collection
Free12 hours agoShetland IslandsSumburgh Head LighthouseAttractionArdnamurchanArdnamurchan PointAttractionAberdeenshireRattray HeadAttractionCaithnessDunnet Head LighthouseAttractionIsle of SkyeDun Ardtreck and Ardtreck Point LighthouseAttractionCaithnessNoss Head LighthouseAttraction

Free to visit.

Beaches, waterfalls, viewpoints and stones: nothing to pay and nobody to ask.

See all the places to visit
From the magazine11 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 06Issue 06Spring / Summer 2023

Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island, would not join his family's lighthouse business, yet his poem The Light-Keeper looks out from the lamp room itself.

His grandfather, Robert Stevenson, spent close to half a century as an engineer for the Northern Lighthouse Board, and three of Robert's sons followed him into the trade, among them the writer's father, Thomas. Thomas was disappointed when his only son, born in 1850, declined to go into the family business. Robert Louis went on to write Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but the lights stayed with him. The Light-Keeper sits the reader inside the flaming lightroom: 'I sit within a blaze of light Held high above the dusky sea'. The turning lenses flash through the night, and at dawn the tall tower looks 'white and spectral as may be'.

Read the full story in Issue 06
Newly discovered9 hours agoAngusScurdie Ness LighthouseAttractionThe Black IsleChanonry LighthouseAttractionRoss and CromartyCromarty LighthouseWalkRoss and CromartyChanonry PointAttractionCaithnessNoss Head LighthouseAttractionCaithnessLybster Harbour and LighthouseAttraction

Some good places to go, newly added to the site.

From Angus, The Black Isle and Ross and Cromarty.

Browse everywhere to go
Lunch8 hours agoCaithnessCastletown Chip Shop5.4 milesCaithnessThe Galley, Scrabster7.5 milesCaithnessOlive7.6 miles

Lunch near Dunnet Head Lighthouse.

The three good places closest to it: Castletown Chip Shop, The Galley, Scrabster and Olive.

See Dunnet Head Lighthouse
Did you know5 hours ago

The Stevenson screen, the white box that shelters thermometers at weather stations worldwide, was invented by the Scottish lighthouse engineer Thomas Stevenson, father of the author Robert Louis Stevenson.

Thomas Stevenson, who lived from 1818 to 1887, came from Edinburgh's famous family of lighthouse builders. In the 1860s he designed what he called a 'box for holding thermometers', with louvred sides that let the air flow round the thermometers while keeping off the sun and the rain. It went on to become a familiar sight at weather stations around the UK and around the world. In 2024 a University of Reading study found that, 160 years on, the screen is still remarkably effective: its readings differed by more than 1°C from a modern fan-ventilated thermometer in only 1% of cases.

The lighthouse on the cliffs at Eshaness.
Sunset 18:023 hours ago

Golden hour at Neist Point.

Famed as one of the best sunset-viewing points in Skye – if not the whole of the UK – this rampantly lovely headland projects into The Minch and is also the site of Neist Point Lighthouse, now well over 110 years old.

Read about it
From the magazine2 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 10Issue 10Spring / Summer 2025

Friends of the lighthouse keeper John Boath and his wife Hazel phoned ahead whenever the couple moved on, so the next cottage down the road could come out and wave too.

John became a keeper on 7 March 1966, and he and Hazel fitted in well wherever they lived, on shore stations like Stoer Head in Assynt. When they left the lighthouse at Maughold, one keeper and former military man, Richard, who called himself 'Squadron Leader Scammells', was not there to see them off, which puzzled John. Then, as they drove away, they spotted him over a small hill with his dog. He told the dog to sit, stood to attention and saluted John and Hazel as they went. Conor Gault, the photographer who gathered the story, could tell how moved John still was by it.

Read the full story in Issue 10
Region of the day56 minutes agoAberdeenshireRattray HeadAttractionAberdeenshireMuseum of Scottish LighthousesAttractionAberdeenshireBuchan Ness LighthouseAttraction

Lighthouses in Aberdeenshire.

Somewhere in Aberdeenshire every day, so the whole country comes round in turn.

See Aberdeenshire

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