Girdle Ness Lighthouse is situated on the Girdle Ness Peninsula just south of the entrance to Aberdeen harbour. The lighthouse is listed as a building of Architectural/Historic interest.
The Optic System is controlled using a standard NLB Gearless Pedestal/Lamp Array Controller to link the various elements into an ordered sequence. The Gearless Pedestal Drive System is equipped with two drive fluxmeters which operate together and share the drive. Should one fail, one can assume the drive itself.
Lamp Arrays rotated by this system are normally installed at sites supplied with mains electricity. These systems rotate only during nighttime. The Lamp Arrays also have DC supplied reserve lamps for use when the mains fail. In event of a Main Optic failure, a single Emergency Lantern is automatically selected. This is a 250mm lantern, with a range of 10 miles.
History
1813: An Aberdeen shipmaster requested that a light be established at Girdle Ness, following the wrecking of the whaling ship, The Oscar on 1 April 1813. From a crew of 45, there were only two survivors.
1833: Girdle Ness Lighthouse was engineered by Robert Stevenson and constructed under the supervision of the Aberdeen contractor, James Gibb. It used a new form of lighting system, showing two distinct fixed lights from the same tower, one above the other. The lower light consisted of 13 lamps and reflectors arranged in a garland formation in a glazed gallery circling the tower at approximately 12m from the base.
Before electrification, the incandescent brightness was attained by pressure-vaporised paraffin, which burned at a rate of 9½ gills an hour. The lamp and reflectors were activated through an arc covering the entire seafront by a clockwork motor and imbedded in a mercury bath to pressure an even bearing. The fog horn was put into operation when visibility fell below five miles.
1847: The main light was altered, and the old lantern, which was determined to be too small, was transferred to Inchkeith for experimental use.
1860: The Astronomer Royal, Professor George Airy, (later Sir George) visited Girdle Ness and described it in the following words:
“the best lighthouse that I have seen… fronted to seaward with weather-resisting glass a quarter of an inch thick and gun metal astragals. The dome of the lighthouse looks immense from inside whereas from the ground some 136 feet below it looks minute. The lamp is framed by 2 large concave reflectors which sent its 200,000 candlepower beams 25 miles out to sea on a good night.”
1890: The lower light was discontinued.
1944: During the Second World War, on 18 November 1944, a mine drifted ashore and exploded, but damage was confined to the doors and windows in the dwelling house and the tower.
1987: The fog signal was discontinued.
1991: The light was automated in 1991 and is now remotely monitored from NLB’s headquarters in Edinburgh.
1990s – 2022: From the mid-1990s to 31 March 2022, Girdle Ness Lighthouse was one of the General Lighthouse Authorities transmitting stations for Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS).
At some sites NLB has sold redundant buildings within the lighthouse complex and is not responsible for the maintenance of these buildings.