Arbroath Signal Tower Museum

The Signal Tower stands beside the harbour in Arbroath, a town on Scotland’s east coast. Built in 1813, it once served as the shore base for the Bell Rock Lighthouse. The tower held homes for lighthouse keepers’ families and the staff who ran the supply tender. A signalling ball on a pole let the shore team speak to keepers on the rock. A telescope in the tower watched the lighthouse during daylight hours. The system used flags by day and the ball by night to report any trouble. The tower’s working life ended in 1955 when the Northern Lighthouse Board moved staffing to Leith. After fifteen years as council flats, it became a museum in the 1970s. Exhibits show Arbroath’s past as a centre of jute and engineering. Shanks lawnmowers, Giddings + Lewis-Fraser machines and Keith & Blackman parts line the displays. Photographs, documents and company badges bring these firms to life. Visitors find a scale model of the Inchcape Rock and its lighthouse. One of the old light mechanisms sits in a glass case. Fishing history appears through models of harbour boats and displays on gutting and curing. Maps and leaflets guide walkers to coastal paths and nature trails around Arbroath. The tower’s own rooms still show how keepers and their families once lived.