The Old Beacon

The Old Beacon restoration

A laser scan was carried out of the Beacon, producing an image of every square inch which enabled the surveyors to have a detailed record of the structure. During all the work there was an archaeological presence.

Following the success of the BBC Two programme Restoration Village, the North Ronaldsay Trust received £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and a further £45,000 from Orkney Islands Council, and work begun on the Beacon in May 2008. Scaffolding was constructed to enable the civil engineer to carry out a detailed survey of the condition of the tower and the ball of masonry at its apex. At the end of the survey he declared the masonry holding the ball to be safe, enabling entry to the tower to dig out the mass of guano which had accumulated over a century and a half - and rising to 25 feet up the walls. It took five days to dig it out, with the conditions requiring the use of picks, shovels. protective clothing and a JCB. Digger.

The Trust is currently looking at options for the future of the Old Beacon and cottage which are both A listed scheduled monuments. The Beacon is Scotland's oldest intact lighthouse.

It is hoped that when it is renovated and restored, visitors will be able to climb to the top of the Beacon via a new staircase on the inside of the structure, to see the view where the old light once shone, with the sound of the sea below.

There are also ideas to restore the cottage, and turn it into self catering accommodation. It has been suggested that the cottage could be restored to its original format, with box bed and with candle light for illumination, without running water and with an outside toilet, to provide an experience of the actual conditions of the early keepers.

The ferocity of the waters around North Ronaldsay led over the centuries to a heavy toll in shipwrecks, and to many determined rescues by islanders, skilled in boat handling. The loss of the Swedish East Indiaman Svecia in 1740 led to a chain of events that gave North Ronaldsay in 1789 one of the first four lighthouses in Scotland. The remains of that building - the Old Beacon - stand on the shore today, its light replaced by a stone ball. On higher ground above is its successor, the tallest lighthouse on UK land, built by Alan Stevenson in 1854.

Some more photo’s of the Beacon below.