Building record MAB7234 - COVESEA SKERRIES LIGHTHOUSE

Lighthouse, cottages and steading.

Lighthouse, cottages and steading. The Covesea Skerries Lighthouse was designed by engineer Alan Stevenson in 1844, and built by James Smith in 1846 at a cost of £11,514. Following the loss of 16 vessels during a storm in the Moray Firth in November 1826, numerous applications were made for new lights to be set up at Covesea Skerries and Tarbet Ness, covering both sides of the Firth. After much debate it was recommended that a light be established on Craighead, with a beacon on Halliman's Scars. A pyramid of iron pillars went up in 1845, and in 1846 a mainland light was shown from the Covesea Skerries Lighthouse. The lighthouse is a 36 metre (115 feet) high, circular, seven-storey lighthouse/tower, with a semi-circular, single-storey range clasping the base. It is constructed of white painted tooled ashlar, with polished ashlar dressings, some contrasting painted. The main entrance is in the South face, is a pedimented doorpiece with pulvinated stringcourse and an inscription which reads 'In salutem omnium (for the safety of all) / Northern Lights / Alan Stevenson, LLB, Engineer / James Smith, Contractor, William Middlemiss, Superintendent / MDCCCXLIV'. There are further entrances in the South facing end gables of a single storey range. Each storey of the North face (sea facing) has a single narrow window. There is a flared corbelled upper stage, with a cast-iron balustrade and glazed light. The lighthouse was automated in 1984, and was remotely monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Board's offices in Edinburgh until the 2nd March 2012, when it was permanently discontinued. The original lens can be seen in Lossiemouth Fisheries and Community Museum. The lighthouse has been used as an Ordnance Survey trigonometrical survey intersected station (sighting point). The lighthouse is now in residential use. The Keeper's Cottages are a pair of single-storey, Egyptian-style cottages. It has a ten-bay frontage (two mirrored five-bays) with alternating advanced and recessed bays. They are constructed of tooled ashlar, with polished ashlar dressings, all white painted. There is an entrance or window in the advanced bays, each with a heavy concave cornice. The windows are four-pane sash windows, and the cottages have a flat roof with batteries of two or four square stacks, with flared copes. The cottages and lighthouse are linked by a low coped wall enclosing a central court. There is also a steading associated with the lighthouse, presumed to have been built at the same time, which consists of a long single storey, South-facing six-bay range, constructed of tooled rubble with tooled ashlar dressings. It has an off-centre segmental-headed cart bay (now masked by double leaf plank doors), six doorways and mural vents, two ridge stacks and piended slate roofs.

Period Notes
Designed 1844 and built 1846. Automated in 1984 and decommissioned on 2nd March 2012. Listed designation given on 26/01/1971.

Hume, JR, 1977, Industrial Archaeology of Scotland, 229 (Bibliographic reference). SAB730.

MCKEAN, C, 1987, MORAY: AN ILLUSTRATED ARCHITECTURAL GUIDE, p.100 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1142.

NB PLANNING ARCHITECTURE, 2013, COVESEA SKERRIES LIGHTHOUSE: A CONSERVATION PLAN, Conservation Plan (Bibliographic reference). SAB1338.

NB PLANNING ARCHITECTURE, 2015, COVESEA SKERRIES LIGHTHOUSE, STEADING AND WELL: A CONSERVATION PLAN, Conservation Plan (Bibliographic reference). SAB1348.

Aug 6 2003 , AAS-GR-03-08-038, AAS-GR-03-08-038 (Ground Photograph). SAB36108.

May 17 2014 , AAS-GR-14-05-030 to 036, AAS-GR-14-05-030 to 036 (Ground Photograph). SAB30900.

SDD, n.d., BLDS OF ARCH & HIST INTEREST, DRAINIE 13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1827.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 09/05/14 p.3 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 12/06/15 p.13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 13/11/83 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 16/05/14 p.2 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 18/07/14 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Record last edited

Oct 28 2024 3:40PM