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Northern Lighthouse Board

Details

Year Established1833EngineerRobert Stevenson

Position Latitude 56° 27.333'N Longitude 005° 36.449'W

CharacterFlashing White every 10 secsElevation31 metres Nominal Range17 nautical miles StructureWhite tower 26 metres high.Candle Power71,000

Lismore

History

Lismore is situated on Eilean Musdile in the Firth of Lorne at the entrance to Loch Linnhe. This is separated from Lismore island by a Sound ¼ miles broad.
On 13 January 1830 the Commissioners purchased, from Charles Campbell Esq of Combie, the small island of Mansedale, lying off the south west point of Lismore, for the sum of £500. The Island extends to approximately ten acres.

James Smith of Inverness was the contractor responsible for building Lismore at the price of £4,260. The light was first exhibited in October 1833 and was fixed white. The report at the time stated the light will doubtless be of great service to numerous vessels which frequent the sounds of Islay, Luing and Mull. It also opened up the firth of Lorne and Loch Linnhe for the western entrance to the Caledonian Canal.

Mr Robert Selkirk, a lineal descendant of Alexander Selkirk, was the first Principal Lightkeeper at Lismore and had been in the service since 1808. Lismore was a Rock Station relieved fortnightly so that the men (4 in all) had 6 weeks on the rock followed by two weeks ashore with their families. The provisions and other light stores were brought by a boatman permanently attached to the Station who also did reliefs.

In 1910 most of the Boards lights were changed to dioptric but Lismore and Fidra were left as the only remaining purely catoptric lights in the service.

The war years provided extra work for the lightkeepers. In 1940 two lightkeepers at Lismore, under most difficult conditions, rescued two airmen clinging to a piece of wreckage in the sea.

June 1965 saw the biggest change at Lismore when it was converted to Automatic operation at an estimated cost of £10,000. Upwards of eleven tons of building material had to be transport from Oban by the MV FINGAL. The lightkeepers were then withdrawn.

The light is now looked after by Oban Depot personnel.

It should be noted that at some sites the Northern Lighthouse Board have sold some redundant buildings within the lighthouse complex and are not responsible for the maintenance of these building.

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