Statement of Special Interest
Ruadh Sgeir Lighthouse meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- It is a specifically late-20th century lighthouse structure, one of the first of a type of lighthouse tower constructed in glass-reinforced plastic (GRP).
- Its compact plan form is indicative of the automation and solarisation of lighthouses since the 1980s.
- The remote setting of the lighthouse is largely unchanged since it was built and its located in roughly the same footprint as the earlier cast iron beacon of 1905.
- It is important in helping us to understand how the operation of lighthouses changed in the late-20th century.
Architectural interest
Design
Ruadh Sgeir is a minor light of a GRP tower construction. The use of glass reinforced plastic (fibreglass) is indicative of its late-20th century date. Fibreglass has been used in lighthouse construction in the United States since around the 1960s and was first used in Scotland's lighthouses in the early 1980s (Lighthouse Preservation Society).
GRP is a strong but flexible, non-corroding material moulded in or around the shape it is required to take. It is also highly resistant to long-term wear and tear, low maintenance and quick to construct in comparison with more traditional materials such as stone, cast iron or concrete. Ruadh Sgeir was one of the first glass reinforced lighthouses erected in Scotland, alongside Rose Ness on Orkney (1983).
GRP towers are visually similar to 'traditional' lighthouses and usually have a base, tower, lantern and gallery. However, most of these features are now purely decorative and are added for aesthetic reasons. For example, the beacon at Ruadh Sgeir has a conical cap topped with a vent-shaped finial, visually mimicking the storm-proof ventilators of earlier lighthouses. Generally, the form of GRP towers retains the look of a typical lighthouse and is in direct contrast with the slightly later solar powered light aluminium tower (SPLAT) design.
The compact, practical plan-form of Ruadh Sgeir is representative of an automated minor light of a GRP tower design. Its internal space was designed to house and protect the gas-powered lighting apparatus used in its original form, although they have since been converted to solar powered LED lighting. Since automation, living accommodation is no longer required on site and lighthouse complexes can be much smaller because large machinery for large, rotating optics, fuel tanks and long-term storage are no longer required.
Setting
The location of any lighthouse is critical to its function. Ruadh Sgeir lighthouse is located on the southern end of Ruadh Sgeir, a low lying, rocky islet in the Sound of Jura. The island lies in the northern part of the sound, roughly equidistant from the northern end of Jura around 3.5km to the northwest and the mainland of Argyll around 3km to the southeast. It is also around 5km southeast of the entrance to Loch Crinan, itself leading to the western end of the Crinan Canal, previously an important link between the Clyde and the Western Highlands for commercial and passenger shipping and still popular with smaller and leisure craft today. As a result, the light on Ruadh Sgeir continues to be an important navigational aid to vessels taking advantage of the canal's shortcut route into and out of Loch Fyne and the upper part of the Firth of Clyde, and to shipping traversing the Sound of Jura itself.
Ruadh Sgeir lighthouse occupies roughly the same location as the 1906 cast iron beacon (as evidenced by a redundant square concrete base that appear on aerial photographs close by to the southwest of the lighthouse).
The setting of Ruadh Sgeir lighthouse has not significantly changed since its construction in 1983 and it retains its isolated and prominent position.
Historic interest
Age and rarity
Ruadh Sgeir is of interest as it belongs to the earlier phase of transitioning to new designs of gas and solar powered electric lights in Scotland since around 1980. It is one of the first low maintenance, glass reinforced plastic (GRP) towers built in Scotland. There are currently 13 of these GRP towers in the estate of the Northern Lighthouse Board. Only a small number were built because as the process of solarisation developed in the mid to late 1980s the solar-powered, lattice aluminium towers (SPLAT) became the more economically viable option for replacing the remaining gas-powered minor lights in Scotland. The last GRP tower was erected in 2010 at Crammag Head, and all 13 examples have been converted to solar power in place of the original gas-powered apparatus.
There are over 200 operational Northern Lighthouse Board lighthouses in Scotland, with many other examples either decommissioned or operated by other organisations and groups. They range from elegant stone pinnacles on remote reefs far out to sea, to small navigational beacons and modern modular lights. Of these, around 150 lighthouses of various shapes, sizes and types are currently designated as either listed buildings or scheduled monuments, representing a wide range of specific navigational dangers that required illumination at night.
Social historical interest
Ruadh Sgeir Lighthouse is of social historical interest as it belongs to the most recent phase of lighthouse construction in Scotland. It was built in response to advancements in technology and is directly related to the programme of modernisation and solarisation implemented since the 1980s. It is a contemporary version of an earlier automated cast iron structure of 1906 by David A Stevenson.
The significance of Scotland's lighthouse network to the country's history is high. As an island nation with over 18,000 kilometres of coastline and over 900 islands, maritime industries such as fishing, coastal trade and transportation have long been significant social and economic factors. Scotland's coasts are also located on international sea-routes linking northern Europe with the rest of the world. The use of lighthouses was therefore vital to the safety of shipping in Scottish waters. Prior to the construction of Scotland's lighthouses, most navigation markers were landmarks visible only during daylight, and so nautical navigation at night or in poor conditions was a highly dangerous but sometimes unavoidable undertaking. This is reflected in the large numbers of records of ships and sailors lost in wrecking incidents around the coasts of Scotland during the 19th and 19th centuries.
The first lighthouse in Scotland was established on the Isle of May (SM887) in 1636. This light aided navigation into the many harbours around the Firth of Forth and took the form of a stone tower mounting a coal fired brazier. Although the Isle of May beacon was far from as bright as later examples, in good weather it good be seen from as far as the entrance to the Tay, and it would remain operational for 180 years. The Isle of May was followed by several other lighthouses and beacons being built from the late 17th century, improving navigation for the Tay, the Solway and the Clyde.
A common factor in all the lights established in the first 150 years was that they were conceived, built and operated by private interests and organisations, such as local magistrates, councils and individuals, supported by the king and parliament when necessary. By the early 1780s, however, there was a growing recognition that many shipping and navigational dangers existed far beyond the profitable harbours and estuaries that had driven the development of the early lights. To address this, in 1786 parliament passed "An Act for erecting certain Light-houses in the Northern Parts of Great Britain" and established a board of Commissioners (subsequently to become the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses and then the Northern Lighthouse Board), initially to undertake the work of building and maintaining lights at four locations, including Kinnaird Head (LB31888), Eilean Glas (LB13487), Mull of Kintyre (LB19874) and North Ronaldsay (SM6596). These lights were the work of the Board's first engineer, Thomas Smith, and his assistant Robert Stevenson, and used improved lighting technology in the form of whale oil burners and mirrored reflectors to enhance the brightness.
Following the 1786 Act, the number of lighthouses around the coasts of Scotland began to rapidly grow, along with the technology and engineering skills employed. By the early 19th century oil lamps were replacing the earlier coal burners, and Robert Stevenson had been able to design and build a lighthouse on the Bell Rock (LB45197). Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, Robert Stevenson and his descendants continued to push the boundaries of technology and engineering to expand the network, including lights on Skerryvore (LB17489), Muckle Flugga (LB17479), Dhu Heartach (LB12320), and the Flannan Isles (LB48143). Throughout the 20th century, the Northern Lighthouse Board has continued this tradition of innovation in its later designs, as evidenced with the lighthouse at Ruadh Sgeir.
Association with people or events of national importance
There is no direct association with a person or event of national importance.
For over 150 years Robert Stevenson and his descendants designed many of Scotland's lighthouses. The efforts of the Stevenson family in designing and constructing the network of lighthouses around Scotland's coasts, often against seemingly overwhelming odds, led to their collective name the "Lighthouse Stevensons" and they are revered as some of Scotland's greatest engineering minds. Whilst little remains of David A and Charles Stevenson's earlier light at Ruadh Sgeir, the current lighthouse is a late-20th century structure that is testament to the legacy of the Stevensons' engineering skills and the modernisation and development of navigational aids in Scotland to this day.