Monach Lighthouse To Be Recommissioned
By Sue Clark on Jul 8, 2008 in News 
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Unlit For Sixty Years; Relighting Planned For Summer
More proof lighthouses are still used and are necessary to navigation. After recommendations made in a review of navigational matters, the Hebrides (Scotland) lighthouse will be recommissioned later this summer. A light will shine out from this 135 foot tall beacon for the first time since 1948. The lighthouse is located on Monach Isle about six miles off the coast west of North Uist.
Designed by the Stevenson Brothers, David and Thomas, and built in 1864, it served honorably until 1942. According to the chief executive of the Northern Lighthouse Board, “The tower has essentially been left for the past 60 years, since the light was extinguished during the Second World War, and the limited amount of remedial work we have had to carry out pays tribute to the great work of the Stevensons.”
The decision was made in 1942 to shut the light down, like so many others, rather than give the visual help to U-Boat captains during the war. But unlike the rest, this one was not relit when hostilities ended in 1945. And a 1948 report recommended shutting the light down completely when it was determined it had ceased to be of value.
Disaster Strikes
In 1966, an agreement was made between the Northern Lighthouse Board and the Natural Environment Research Council. It granted the Research Council the right to form a nature reserve on the island of Shillay where the study of, research into and preservation of various species of flora and fauna is carried out.
Although there no major incidents in the ensuing years, it couldn’t last. On January 5, 1993, the MV Braer, laden with crude oil, was on its way from Norway to Canada when it lost power during a gale. Despite efforts to avoid the collision, it ran aground near Shetland. The tanks ruptured and it spilled 84,700 tons of crude oil into the North Atlantic, four times as much as the Exxon Valdez dumped into Alaskan waters four years earlier.
A subsequent report after this ecological disaster recommended that vessels sail west of the Hebrides, and to that end three new light towers were built to mark the Deep Water Route, including one on Monach Isle. The new Monach light was a solar-powered, white clad metal framework tower. It could be seen to a range of only 10 miles.
Another report in 2005 determined the light’s visibility needed to be in the range of 18 miles instead. However, the new tower was deemed inadequate for this change, and the decision was made to put a new optic in the original lighthouse. A very bright idea if you ask me (pun intended).
Photo credit: Monach isle lighthouse Originally uploaded by calum57. All rights reserved.
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