The Butt of Lewis () is the most northerly point on the Island of Lewis, in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

, Scotland. The

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

, which lies in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

, is frequently battered by heavy swells and storms and is marked by the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse. The nearest populated area is the village of Eoropie, about to the south. The road to the lighthouse passes a sheltered cove called Port Stoth. Southwest from the lighthouse is a

natural arch A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, Cliffed coast, coastal cliffs, Fin (geology), fins or Stack ...

called the "Eye of the Butt" (). It is claimed that the Butt of Lewis is one of the windiest locations in the United Kingdom.

Name

The Gaelic name for the Butt of Lewis, ''Rubha Robhanais'', means "Robhanais Point". The name ''Robhanais'', formerly anglicised as ''Rowaness'', comes from the Norse ''Rófunes'', meaning "promontory of the tail".

Lighthouse

The Butt of Lewis Lighthouse was built by the famous lighthouse builder David Stevenson in 1862. Other sources include Thomas Stevenson as one of the builders too. Little is known of the station's early history. A plaque in the lightroom indicates that the present equipment was installed in 1905. The station became the radio link for the keepers on the isolated Flannan Islands in the early 1930s, and continued to function as such until 1971, when the Flannans was made automatic. The light was most-likely fuelled by fish oil in the beginning. This was then replaced by a paraffin burner in 1869 and finally by electricity in 1976. It was operated by three Keepers who lived at the Station with their families but the fog signal was discontinued on 31 March 1995 and the light was automated on 30 March 1998. It is now remotely monitored from Edinburgh. Until the early 1960s, all supplies were delivered by sea because of the poor road system on the island. This would occur at the nearby Port Stoth, where small cargo vessels would regularly berth if the weather allowed it to offload provisions for the lighthouse station. The Butt of Lewis was also one the General Lighthouse Authorities transmitting stations for Differential GPS until March 2022.

Eilean nan Luchruban

One kilometre south-west of the Butt is the

stack Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

, or small island, of Eilean nan Luchruban, also known as the Pygmies' Isle. The isle was first mentioned by Dean Munro in about 1549 and described as being a "kirk" where

pygmies In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

were buried. There are several structures on the island and earlier historical records mention bones in the structures. It was excavated by

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

s sometime before 1905, when bones and pottery were found. The bones were found to be from animals and the pottery was later found to be from the Neolithic period. RCAHMS surveyed the isle in 1928 and found part of the structures had collapsed since the excavations. A survey in 2005 found some additional structures not mentioned by the earlier sources.

Gallery

File:Butt of Lewis Lighthouse (33888546188).jpg File:Butt of Lewis.jpg File:Lighthouse, Butt of Lewis.JPG File:Butt of Lewis.png File:Butt of Lewis Lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 1961546.jpg

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butt of Lewis Isle of Lewis Landforms of the Outer Hebrides Headlands of Scotland Natural arches of Scotland