East Coast

Place of the lighthouse

Tarbat Ness (Scottish Gaelic: Rubha Thairbeirt) is headland that lies at the end of the Tarbat peninsula in Easter Ross, Scotland, near the fishing village of Portmahomack. The name is from the Gaelic tairbeart meaning "isthmus" and the Old Norse ness, meaning "headland". It lies at the south of the entrance to the Dornoch Firth.

The height of the headland reaches 17m above sea level in the south and east and 10m in the north and west. The raised beaches provide evidence of the post-glacial changes in sea level. Water depths offshore reach 10m at 300m offshore and 20m at circa 5 kilometres offshore.

Tarbat Ness Lighthouse, on the peninsula between the Firths of Dornoch and Moray, is the tallest lighthouse on the Scottish mainland at 41.1m. Its white tower is painted with two red bands.

Building of the Lighthouse

As far back as 1814, the location was noted as an important place to mark the Caledonian Canal. This led from the Beauly Firth in Inverness to Loch Linnhe. Sailing vessels had a more sheltered passage, avoiding the Pentland Firth and Cape Wrath. Applications were made for lighthouses at Tarbat Ness and/or Covesea Skerries near Lossiemouth, following the loss of 16 vessels in the Moray Firth during a storm in November 1826.

The first lighthouse was designed by Robert Stevenson and built by James Smith Contractor. The light was first shown on January 26, 1830. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1892. The lighthouse is a tall round tower on a semicircular base, with a triangular lantern with diamonds and a domed roof. Projecting parapet. All painted decorated bluestone, with painted broached connections; contrasting painted margins and stripes to the tower.

Pair flat roofed, single storey semi-detached keepers' cottages, each 4 bays. Harled, with contrasting painted window cills, base course and parapet. Paired centre windows, flanked by slightly projecting corniced entrance bays. Slightly lower, single bay stores, also with flat roofs, set back at east and west gables. All with low parapet with painted detailing to imitate crenellation. Some 12-pane glazing survives. Site enclosed by white washed rubble wall and rounded dressed stone coping.

With 41.1 meter high, the lighthouse at Tarbat Ness is the third tallest in Scotland — only North Ronaldsay and Skerryvore are taller. The lantern of Tarbat Ness is 53 meter above sea level and is reached via 203 steps. The station cost £19,656 to construct and its light first shone on 26th January 1830. It has been a Category A listed building since March 1971, and now has a RACON (RAdar beaCON) transponder.

Warning systems (Light, Fog horn, Radar Beacon)

The Tarbat Ness lighthouse was the first coastal lighthouse to have flashing lights. The light had opaque cylindrical shades that moved up and down in front of a four-burner Argand paraffin lamp to produce an intermittent (occulting) light.

The navigation light was an Argand Paraffin Lamp with 4 burner until 1907 when it was changed to an incandescent pressurised lamp with 55mm mantles. The lightroom machine in use at the present time was installed in 1892 and remained in use until the automation in 1985.

Tarbat Ness Lighthouse has sometimes experienced earthquake shocks, one strong enough to shake the light shades and rattle the lamp glasses. The structure was rebuilt in 1892, with a new optic designed by David Alan Stevenson (1854-1938), Robert Stevenson’s grandson. The new light had an incandescent pressurised lamp with 55mm mantles and a Fresnel-type lens.

The lighthouse's white-painted tower had its two horizontal red bands added in 1915. It was automated in 1985, when the lamp was replaced by an electric one that gives four white flashes every 30 seconds and can be seen for 24 NM ~ 44.4 km, but is now lowerd tot 18 NM ~ 33.3 km. The 1892 lens and lamp are now on display in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

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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Additional information

Most of the Tarbat Ness peninsula is farmland, but it remains an attractive amenity area, and an asset of East Ross. It has geological and ornithological significance. The geological interest lies chiefly within the foreshore stretch between Rockfield and the lighthouse, especially east of Wilkhaven Farm.

The sedimentary structures in the Upper Old Red Sandstone, intertidal weathering in calciferous rock and deeply weathered rock are well displayed here. There are also Jurassic outliers on the shore. Oyster plants and other interesting coastal plants occur. Tarbat Ness is the stopping-off point for migratory birds during the autumn migration.

It is of special interest for the observation of seabird passage through the Moray Firth, and Manx and Sooty shearwaters, great arctic and pomarine skuas as well as other seabirds may be seen. There are also considerable falls of Scandinavian migrants, including redwing, meadow pipit and wheatear.

According to the Orkneyinga Saga the Norse Earl of Orkney, Torf-Einarr "was the first man to dig peat for fuel, firewood being very scarce on the islands, at Tarbat Ness" (Torfness in the original). This is said to explain his nickname, torf meaning "peat", but it is clearly an absurd assertion.

At the Battle of Tarbat Ness in the 11th century, Thorfinn the Mighty defeated "Karl Hundason", possibly a Viking name for Macbeth. Further down the peninsula near the village of Portmahomack, in the 1480s the Clan Ross slaughtered a raiding party from the Clan Mackay by locking them in the Tarbat Old Church and setting fire to it. This event is known as the Battle of Tarbat.