West Coast

Place of the lighthouse

The lighthouse is placed by a former fishing village, situated on Corran Point (Scottish Gaelic: An Corran), on the west side of the Corran Narrows of Loch Linnhe, in Lochaber. There are three small settlements set apart from the main cluster of houses: North Corran, Clovullin and Sallachan.

A constriction in Loch Linnhe 2 km north of the entrance to Loch Leven, the Corran Narrows lies between Corran Point and Nether Lochaber, 15 km southwest of Fort William. The loch narrows from over 1.5 km in width to less than 200 meters. A ferry crosses to the Ardgour peninsula here.

Building of the Lighthouse

The Lighthouse on Corran Point was built in 1860 by Thomas and David Lillie Stevenson, for the Northern Lighthouse Board. The Lighthouse was built to help vessels navigate the Corran Narrows.

The Lighthouse, not far from the Corran Ferry from where it can be viewed well, is a circular stumpy 13-meter-high masonry tower white-painted with a gold painted corbelled wall head with cast-iron balustrade and service room below the lantern. The lantern is domed with lattice glass and painted black, in the same colour scheme as most Scottish lighthouses. There are also keeper's houses on the plot.

Warning systems (Light, Fog horn, Radar Beacon)

Originally, the lighthouse was equipped with a fixed light using a 4th order Fresnel lens. This original optic can be seen in the museum of the Scottish Lighthouses Museum in Fraserburgh. In 1898 the light was converted to the less labour-intensive light source of oil gas and the lighthouse was reduced from two to one guard and his family.

In 1970 the lighthouse was automated, in 2004 further modernization took place, preserving the coloured sectors. The Red sectors should be avoided as they are close to shore, while the Green and White sectors are used to direct ships to Corran Point. The light has now isophase character, which means that the light is shown for a period equal to the length of the solar eclipse.

The lighthouse now emits a Iso Character White light with Red and Green sectors depending on which direction it is viewed from . The White light is visible for 18.6 km and the Red and Green sectors are visible for 13 km. The Lighthouse was one of the first in Britain to be automated, having been built in 1898; almost 10 years before lighthouses in England were automated.

Operational status

Today, the lighthouse remains in use. The lighthouse is remotely controlled from the NLB Headquarters in Edinburgh.
The Keeper's housing is now private property.

Additional information

The Highland Council Corran Ferry runs to Corran from eastern shore of the Corran Narrows and crosses Loch Linnhe. The route of this ferry is on one of the old auto routes from the Highlands to central Scotland. The eastern slope is known as Nether Lochaber. The western side of the crossing is guarded by the picturesque lighthouse that stands on the coast with its cottages.

Following the road west from the lighthouse, a fifty-mile drive leads past beautiful Loch Sunart and on to the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, the most westerly point of mainland Britain. The road leads to the Point of Ardnamurchan with the Ardnamurchan lighthouse and visitor centre.