Minor Lights
Minor lights in Sound of Mull
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Glas Eileanan Lighthouse (Grey Rocks) lies on the small islets that are off Rubha an Redire headland and are in the middle of the Sound of Mull. The light is a modern aluminium clad skeletal tower placed on the island in 2001 when many of the minor lights in the region were modernised. Character: Flashing White every 3 seconds. Focal plane 6 metres. Range 5 nautical miles. Position 56 29.8N 005 42.7W
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Ardtornish Point Lighthouse was established by David Stevenson in 1927 as a cast iron octagonal tower on Ardtornish point, a headland jutting out into the Sound of Mull from Morvern. But in 2001 this was replaced by a skeletal tower clad with white aluminium panels. The solar powered light is a sectored light showing two flashes every 10 seconds, either, red, green or white depending on the direction of approach. Character: a Sectored light. Two flashes Red, Green or White every 10 seconds. Ranges: White 8 nautical miles. Red and Green 5 nautical miles. Position 56 31.09N 005 45.21W
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Green Islands (Eileannan Glasa)Lighthouse was first established in 1906 but in 2001 a tower similar to Ardtornish Point lighthouse was erected on the site. To distinguish it from Ardtornish it has a white light flashing every 6 seconds. The light is on a rock known as Dearg Sgear, the northernmost of the Eileannan Glasa, which are in the middle of the Sound of Mull about two nautical miles north east of Salen. Character: Flashing White every 6 seconds. Focal Plane: 11 metres. Range 6 nautical Miles. Position 56 32.3N 005 54.7W As the Sound of Mull broadens out to join with Loch Sunart and the sea of the Hebrides there are two lighthouses on Mull’s north west shore.
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Rubha nan Gall Lighthouse is a traditional lighthouse designed by Thomas and David Stevenson. It was first established in 1857 and manned by keepers until 1960 when the light was automated. The tower is on a small islet joined to the shore and keepers house by a bridge. The light is exhibited from a black painted lantern room at the top of a 19 metre white painted masonry tower. Access is by a one mile walk along the cliff top path from Tobermory. Character: Flashing White every 3 seconds. Focal Plane 17 metres. Range 15 nautical miles. Position 56 38.3 N 006 03.9W Ardmore Point Lighthouse was established in 1958 but is now a modern aluminium and glass fibre structure similar to Ardtornish lighthouse and placed on the point in 2003. Character: Flashing Two white every 10 seconds. Focal plane 17 metres. Range 8 nautical miles. Position 56.39.4 N 006 07.6 W Ross of Mull Eilean na Liathanaich light is on an islet to the south east of Bunessan. The light was originally established in 1901 but modernised with square skeletal tower clad in Aluminium in 2001. The light is 12 metres above sea level and is directional, showing either red or white light to indicate the safe channel. Character: A sectored light flashing Red/White every 6 seconds. Focal Plane: 12 metres. Ranges Red 6 nautical miles, White 8 nautical miles. Position 56 20.5N 006 16.2 W Lighthouses and Shore bases historically connected with Mull Erraid Lighthouse Shore Station is no longer in use by the Northern Lighthouse Board as it was abandoned in 1952. The small island off the Ross of Mull was first used by Thomas Stevenson in 1869 as the shore base for the building of Dubh Artach lighthouse.
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The single story houses were then used by the families of the Dubh Artach keepers and later also by those serving on Skerryvore Lighthouse. The white painted circular cast iron signal house was used to communicate with both lighthouses using semaphore and as an observation point so that the lights could be seen to confirm that all was well offshore (Note: in the period when the lookout was used, both observed lighthouses had more powerful lights and were visible, now after automation with reduced power they are not always visible. Dubh Artach bears 225 (T) 14 nautical miles and Skerryvore bears 252 (T) 26 nautical miles from the lookout point Skerryvore Lighthouse is on the Torran Rocks which lie about 26 nautical miles from Iona in a westerly direction. Alan Stevenson built the lighthouse in 1844 to protect shipping from a group of exceptionally dangerous rocks that imperilled all ships approaching the west coast ports of Scotland. The lighthouse tower is Mull granite which was quarried at Camas Tuath near Bunessan, the base of which is 13 m (42 ft) in diameter with walls 3 m (9.5 ft) thick. The original signal tower was at Hynish, Tiree but moved to Erraid in 1892 when the Erraid Observatory was used. The lighthouse was badly damaged by fire on the night of 16 March, 1954; after a lengthy period of restoration it was returned to service in 1959. Character: Flashing White every 10 seconds. Focal Plane 46 metres. Range 23 nautical miles. Position 56 19.3 N 007 06.8 W Dubh Artach Lighthouse was built between 1869 and 1872 using stone quarried on Erraid and transported to the site, twenty tons at a time on a barge towed by a paddle tug. The time taken to erect the tower being mainly due to the site’s inaccessibility and poor weather conditions. The builders were accommodated in a temporary iron ‘barrack’ built on the rock near the lighthouse site but even though they were on site in all but the most fearsome weather work was not always possible. The light was automated in 1971 and the keepers withdrawn from what was always an unpopular posting. Character: Two White Flashes every 30 seconds. Focal Plane 44 metres, 20 nautical miles. Position 56.08 N 006 38.07 W