Little Cumbrae Old Lighthouse

The Little Cumbrae Old Lighthouse stands on Little Cumbrae, a small island in the Firth of Clyde off North Ayrshire. Built in 1757, it is Scotland’s second-oldest lighthouse. Glaswegian merchants and local authorities planned it to guide ships into the Clyde and towards Glasgow. After only 35 years the tower had paid for itself, so a new lighthouse was built in 1793 and the old one was retired. The Clyde Lighthouses Trust restored the building in 1956 and it is now protected as a Scheduled Monument. The tower rises about ten metres from the island’s highest point, not at the shore but inland. Its walls are nearly a metre thick and built of solid masonry. The cylindrical shaft is open at the top where an iron basket once held an open coal fire. The flame’s light warned mariners at night and in poor weather. Visitors reach the site by walking from the island’s landing place up to the summit. The open top of the tower offers views across the Firth of Clyde and towards the Ayrshire coast. The restored stonework and the simple iron basket frame give a clear sense of how the light guided ships two and a half centuries ago.