Rinns of Islay Lighthouse

The Rhinns of Islay Lighthouse stands on Orsay, a small uninhabited island south of Islay’s Rhinns peninsula. The tower rises near the island’s highest point, built from coursed rubble stone in 1825 by Robert Stevenson. It is the oldest lighthouse belonging to Islay and listed in Scotland’s highest category of listed buildings. The circular tower narrows slightly over five storeys, its walls marked by stone bands and lit by four evenly spaced sash windows on each floor. The top storey has smaller round windows and a spiral stair leading to the platform that holds the glass-faceted lantern. In 1896 the lens was replaced and in 1978 the light was electrified, while the original burner now sits in the Museum of Islay Life. Beside the tower stand single-storey Georgian-style keepers’ houses with octagonal chimneys and shaped gables on their north-east fronts. East of the complex a long building from about 1900 contains living quarters, stores and engine rooms. The island has no permanent residents and only a few ruined structures, so the lighthouse and its keepers’ homes form the only signs of human presence. Views stretch across the Sound of Islay to Port Wemyss and Portnahaven on the mainland coast.