Butt of Lewis Lighthouse, designed by David Stevenson, was built at

Butt of Lewis The Butt of Lewis () is the most northerly point on the Island of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The headland, which lies in the North Atlantic, is frequently battered by heavy swells and storms and is marked by the Butt of Lewis Lig ...

to aid shipping in the 1860s. Unusual for a lighthouse in Scotland, it is constructed of red brick, and is unpainted. The station was automated in 1998, one of the last to be converted. A modern

differential GPS Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPSs) supplement and enhance the positional data available from global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). A DGPS can increase accuracy of positional data by about a thousandfold, from approximately to ...

base station has now been sited on a nearby hill to further aid navigation. This hill was also the site for a Lloyd's

Signal Station A signal station is a form of Navigational aid, Aids to Navigation that is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization, IHO simply as "A signal station is a place on shore from which signals are made to ships at sea". While this broad de ...

from the 1890s. The road to the lighthouse passes a sheltered cove called Port Stoth. Agricultural

lazy bed Lazy bed ( or ; ; Faroese language, Faroese: ''letivelta'') is a traditional method of arable cultivation, often used for potatoes. Rather like cord rig cultivation, parallel banks of ridge and furrow are dug by spade although lazy beds have ...

s are also visible along the coast. The Butt of Lewis features some of the oldest rocks in Europe, having been formed in the

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

period up to 3 billion years ago. Following the coast southwest from the lighthouse there 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 can be best viewed from the Habost

machair A machair (; sometimes machar in English) is a fertile low-lying grassy plain found on part of the northwestern coastlines of Ireland and Scotland, particularly the Outer Hebrides. The best examples are found on North and South Uist, Harris ...

References

External links

Butt of Lewis history by the Northern Lighthouse Board

Panoramas of the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse

Northern Lighthouse Board
Lighthouses completed in 1862 Lighthouses in Outer Hebrides Category A listed lighthouses Isle of Lewis 1862 establishments in Scotland {{UK-lighthouse-stub

See also

References

External links