Shining a light

“The recent feature on lighthouses was interesting,” emails John Watson of Broughty Ferry, “and in regards to the Buddon lighthouses, in my capacity as archivist for the Fraternity of Masters and Seamen in Dundee, I am able to shine a little more light, so to speak, on the subject.

“There is a band of historians who maintain that sometime between 1660 and 1687 the Buddon lighthouses were built of wood, which made them the earliest recorded Scottish lighthouses. However, most now accept that the light on the Isle of May was the earliest, constructed well before the Privy Council Act of 1687.

“The picture shown is of the Buddon Lower Light with the High Light visible beside the keeper’s cottage in the background. The High Light was first built of stone in about 1753 and more than 100 years later, in 1865 to 1866, both lights were rebuilt in stone by D. and T. Stevenson.

“When approaching the Tay Estuary from seaward, the safe course to take when entering the channel was when these two lights were in line. If they were not then the danger of grounding on the sandbanks was real.

“The term ‘leading lights’ became the norm since they lead the mariner into port safely. The Lower Light was of unique construction because it was able to be moved in order to cope with the changes in the direction of the entrance channel. From May 5 to June 4 1884 it was jacked up, placed on specially constructed railway lines and moved to its current position 160 feet further north-east of the original to mark the direction of the new channel.”