Press Releases - back to Press 16th August 2007
Royal visit marks 200 years since work began on building
Bell Rock Lighthouse
Image HRH The Princess Royal at Bell Rockimage HRH The Princess Royal in the Bell Rock Lightroom
image Bell Rock © Peter J Clarke
image Bell Rock © Peter J Clarke
image Bell Rock cross section
It was on this day (17 August) in history some 200 years ago that work began building the magnificent Bell Rock lighthouse. The lighthouse, which continues to act as an essential aid to marine navigation, marks the notorious Inchcape Rock, a long and treacherous reef lying in the North Sea, some 11 miles of Arbroath.
To mark this occasion the Patron to the Northern Lighthouse Board, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, recently visited the Bell Rock lighthouse with members of the Board and climbed to the top to view the lens system in the lightroom and to sign the visitor’s book.
The Bell Rock lighthouse was engineered by the famous Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson, and is the oldest existing rock Lighthouse in the British Isles.
On the 17 August 1807 twenty-four men sailed from Arbroath for the dreaded Inchcape rock to start work. The building of the light presented some difficult structural problems as the surface of the rock is only uncovered at low water, while at high water it is submerged to a depth of some 16 feet. The build took four years to complete and a light was finally shone from the structure in February 1811. Over the period around 110 men worked on the building of the Bell Rock.
The tower, which is of stone quarried from Mylnfield, near Dundee, and from Rubislaw, Aberdeen, is 115 feet in height, 42 feet is the diameter at the base, tapering to 15 feet in diameter at the top. It is of solid dovetailed masonry for the first 30 feet, half of which is below high water and above there are five chambers and the lightroom. Each stone was cut at Arbroath and checked to ensure fit before being shipped out to the rock.
The Bell Rock has seen many changes over the years, it was fully automated and the keepers withdrawn on the 26 October 1988 and is now remotely monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board’s offices in Edinburgh. It also now boosts an array of solar panels to charge the batteries to supplement the diesel cycle charge as the Board moves towards more environmentally friendly power sources.
The Great Stevenson Engineers…
For over one hundred and fifty years Robert Stevenson and his descendants designed most of Scotland's Lighthouses. Battling against the odds and the elements - the Stevenson's constructed wonders of engineering that have withstood the test of time, an amazing historical achievement. Robert Stevenson's talented family also included the famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson (his grandson). Visits with his family to remote lighthouses are thought to have inspired his books Kidnapped and Treasure Island.Northern Lighthouse Board - Playing a vital role in safety at sea for over two hundred years…
Navigating around Scotland’s shores has always been a hazardous undertaking, with over 6000 miles of coastline, including some of the most beautiful treacherous in Europe. The Northern Lighthouse Board operate a network of over 200 lighthouses, over 200 Buoys and Beacons, a Differential Global Positioning System provided for the mariner and an eLoran system. They are experts in the safety of marine navigation and play a vital role in developing and providing all these systems. Moray Waddell, Northern Lighthouse Board, Director of Engineering said “200 years on, the Bell Rock lighthouse remains an impressive engineering achievement and I am sure that Robert Stevenson would be pleased, that in its modern automated form, the light is still successfully providing the service to mariners he originally envisaged.'Arbroath, Bell Rock Signal Tower
The original lighthouse keeper’s shore station and family living quarters for the Bell Rock lighthouse and signal tower was built in 1813 and is beside Arbroath’s harbour. These building stopped being used in 1955 and are now owned by Angus Council who operate them as the Signal Tower Museum, here you can find out about the fascinating history of the lighthouse, visit the outhouse to see the massive lens of the last manually operated lamp and hear the keeper talk about his day. In addition the museum displays reflect the past lives of the keepers’ families and the wider community of Arbroath and district. Other displays tell the story of Arbroath’s fishing heritage and of its great Industries of textiles and engineering. The Signal Tower Museum is open Monday to Saturday 10.00 - 17.00 all year. Closed 25/26 December and 1 - 2 January. Also open Sundays 14.00 - 17.00 July/August. On Sunday 26 August it will be open all day as part of Arbroath Sea Fest. Tel: 01241 875598.---oOo---
Film Footage
Archive footage of the Bell Rock lighthouse is held by Scottish Television from the Gaelic television programme An Solas Buan (2002).Archive footage of the Bell Rock lighthouse is held by BBC Television from the BBC2 series The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (2003).
Photographs
There is a selection of images of the Bell Rock and the Princess Royal’s visit to the light on the Board’s website at www.nlb.org.uk under the NEWS section. PLEASE NOTE: The full colour images of the Bell Rock must be credited to Peter J Clarke www.peterjclarke.co.uk. Or contact Lorna Hunter, Tel: 0131 473 3100, email enquiries@nlb.org.uk.Notes to Editor
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal became Patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1993 and routinely spends time on the Board's vessels seeing the work that they do.1. The Northern Lighthouse Board operates under statute - the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 - and is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man.
2. The Board currently operates: 215 Lighthouses, 157 Buoys, 40 Beacons, 4 Differential Global Positioning System Stations, 26 Racons and 1 Loran-C Station on trial.
3.The Northern Lighthouse Board is funded entirely from the General Lighthouse Fund, sourced by "Light Dues", a levy paid by shipping. The Board receives no direct funding from the Exchequer or taxpayer.
4. The other General Lighthouse Authorities are the Commissioners of Irish Lights (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) and Trinity House (England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar).
5. The Northern Lighthouse Board is certificated to ISO9001:2000 standard for the provision of navigational aid services to seafarers and other organisations around the coast of Scotland and Isle of Man. Certification covers the design and maintenance of navigational aids and systems, logistical support and associated technical services including consultancy. The Board is also certified to The International Safety Management Code, (ISM Code) in respect of our ships and marine management systems,OHSAS 18001 and BS ISO/IEC 27001:2005.
For further information, please contact:
Lorna Hunter, Information Officer
Northern Lighthouse Board
Tel 0131 473 3100
Mobile 07831 635393
Fax 0131 220 2093
Email: enquiries@nlb.org.uk
www.nlb.org.uk