Lighthouse, Pierhead, North Queensferry

The Lantern Tower stands at the edge of North Queensferry, a village on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth in Fife. It is a sandstone lighthouse built between 1810 and 1812 as a signal tower for the ferry landing. The Forth Ferry Trustee Company commissioned the work after Parliament forced the sale of ferry rights. John Rennie designed the tower while Thomas Telford later improved the whole harbour in 1828. After the Forth Road Bridge opened in 1964 the ferry stopped and the tower fell out of use. The five-metre tower has a hexagonal base only 1.22 metres wide, standing on a rounded plinth thirty-five centimetres high. Its plain wooden door fits a round-headed recess, and two simple cornices mark the storeys beneath a cornice ring. An octagonal lantern with a copper dome crowns the top, ventilated by tubular crosses. Inside, a short spiral stair leads up to the light. Beside the tower lies the Signal House Pier, part of the same Category A harbour ensemble. The pier and nearby Battery Pier show Rennie’s harbour works still intact. Visitors walk along the stone piers and see the Forth Bridge rising behind the water. The quiet village preserves the historic harbour where medieval ferries once crossed to South Queensferry.