Update: 01-01-2025
Place of the lighthouse
The Rhinns of Islay (Scottish Gaelic: Na Roinn Ìleach; alternative English spelling Rhinns of Islay) is an area on the south-west of the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.
The Rhinns of Islay lighthouse is located on the island of Orsay. The Rhinns complex, a deformed igneous complex that is considered to form the basement to the Colonsay Group of metasedimentary rocks takes its name from the Rhinns of Islay.
Building of the Lighthouse
Rhinns of Islay Lighthouse was established in 1825 and engineered by Robert Stevenson. He used all his ingenuity in trying out new ways to distinguish one light from another. Rhinns of Islay was alternately stationary and revolving. It produced a bright ‘flash’ of light every 12 seconds, without the intervals of darkness which characterised other lights on the coast.
The cost of the lighthouse was between £8,000 and £9,000 and John Gibb of Aberdeen was the contractor for the splendid tower.
The tower has 5 floors and an internal cast iron circular staircase. On the ground floor there is an access area with a flat roof. The lighthouse is flanked on both sides by a Keeper's house. The lighthouse and the two Keepers houses are designed in the usual Georgian style of that time (1825).Warning systems (Light, Fog horn)
In 1896 the lighthouse was equipped with a Dioptric flashing light by Barbier and Bernard, Paris, 1896.
In 1978 the light was changed to electric operation and this sealed beam light, mounted on a gearless revolving pedestal, has proved a real step forward in lighthouse illumination. The lighthouse was automated on 31 March 1998.
Operational status
The lighthouse is still in use. The lighthouse is operated and monitored by the Northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh.
Information about the lighthouse specific
Provisions and other light stores were brought by boatmen permanently attached to the station and they also did the reliefs. Boats were normally located at the nearest point of land. Inevitably, these boats operated in stormy waters among strong tides, but accidents seldom occurred. In storms in 1877-78, however, attending boats were lost or seriously damaged by being swamped or driven ashore.
Additional information
The area where the lighthouse is located has been designated a special protection zone due to its importance for a number of breeding and wintering birds, especially the Greenland white-fronted goose and jackdaw. The significance of the area also owes much to the wide variety of habitats, including marshes, heathlands, dune grasslands, maritime grasslands, marshes and extensive agricultural land.
