Inner Hebrides

Place of the lighthouse

Duart Point Lighthouse is an unusual lighthouse and was built in 1900-1901 by the Northern Lighthouse Board to a design by the Glasgow architect, Sir William Leiper (1839-1916) with advice from the lighhouse engineer David Alan Stevenson, in memory of the celebrated novelist William Black (1841-1898). It is situated at the novelist’s favourite spot.

This lighthouse is located 1 km to the south-south-east of Duart Point, a rocky promontory at the south-easternmost corner of the island of Mull. The lighthouse marks the entrance to the Sound of Mull, a sheltered seaway separating the island of Mull from the Morvern peninsula of the Scottish mainland. It is opposite the Lismore Lighthouse and Lady Rock.

Building of the Lighthouse

The lighthouse stands around 14 meter above mean sea level. It is a small gothic tower measuring 9 meter in height. The tower is built of coursed and bull-faced grey granite stonework, with a rubble base course and ashlar parapet. The plan form of the lighthouse is generally circular but with a slightly taller square tower to the east. A round stair tower on the building's western side has two slit windows and a candle-snuffer roof. At the top of the main lighthouse tower, the parapet is castellated, with a dentilled cornice. The light and associated equipment are mounted on top of the flat tower roof.

Construction work by Messrs Macdougall and MacColl, Oban, cost an estimated total of £1563.

A door at ground level on the south west side of the stair tower provides access inside the lighthouse building. The doorpiece comprises a moulded segmental-arched opening. Above the door is a metal plaque topped by a triangular pediment. The plaque has an inscription that reads: 'To the dear memory of William Black, Novelist. Erected by his friends and admirers, in many lands, on a spot which he knew and loved.'

Warning systems (Light)

When first built, the light was powered by compressed gas stored in a tank presumably located inside the building. This was re-filled periodically by the Northern Lighthouse Board vessel Hesperus. The light is now powered by solar panels and all storage tanks appear to have been removed. Otherwise the building appears largely unaltered. Note: The Red sector of the lighthouse covers Lady’s Rock.

Operational status

The light first shown on May 13, 1901 and continues in operation. The lighthouse is operated by the Northern Lighthouse Board and monitored from Edingburgh.

Historical development

Following the death of the Scottish novelist William Black in 1898, a fund was set up to honour his memory, with Lord Archibald Campbell as Treasurer. Subscribers to the fund came from Britain and the United States of America, and included Lord Rosebery, the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, and three members of parliament (Dundee Evening Telegraph 3 April 1900).

In July 1899, having initially investigated the possibility of contributing to a lifeboat, the fund committee decided to support the building of a memorial lighthouse at Duart Point, Mull (Globe 26 July 1899), a location described as 'a most dangerous part of a dangerous coast' (Scotsman 2 February 1901).

This followed discussions with the commissioners of the Northern Lighthouse Board who considered that a lighthouse was required at the southern entrance to the Sound of Mull, where a large proportion of the steamer traffic on the west coast of Scotland passed around that time. Indeed, the board's commissioners observed that two wrecks which occurred during the winter of 1899 -1900 would not have occurred had the lighthouse existed at that time (Driffield Times, 24 March 1900).

Statement of Special Interest

The William Black Memorial Lighthouse is an architecturally distinguished example of an early 20th century minor light built by the Northern Lighthouse Board and retains much of its original form and character.

Although part of a relatively common building type, the William Black Memorial Lighthouse is unusual as a rare example of a memorial lighthouse, built to a high-quality design and materials to plans by the distinguished Glasgow architect Sir William Leiper.

The remote setting close to Duart Point is largely unchanged since the lighthouse was built. The survival of the William Black Memorial Lighthouse is important for understanding the steps taken by Northern Lighthouse Board to safeguard shipping in the Sound of Mull, an important inshore shipping channel on the west coast of Scotland.

Associations with the prolific 19th-century novelist William Black add historic interest in helping us to appreciate the contemporary public appreciation of this important Victorian novelist, and connections with the history of lighthouse construction during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.