Museum of Scottish Lighthouses

The Museum of Scottish Lighthouses stands on Kinnaird Head in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. It occupies the original lighthouse built inside a converted castle, with a modern replacement tower nearby. The site includes the 18th-century castle keep and the 19th-century lighthouse tower. A new automatic light was added in 1991, but the old tower remains the museum’s centrepiece. The museum’s collection was recognised as nationally significant in 2007. It holds technical equipment, lightkeepers’ personal items, and archives from the Northern Lighthouse Board. The lighthouse began in 1787 with Thomas Smith’s whale-oil lamps and 17 reflectors, visible up to 23 kilometres away. Robert Stevenson improved it in 1824, and his son Alan installed a dioptric lens in 1851. Later upgrades included a hyperradiant Fresnel lens in 1902, visible for 27 kilometres, and Scotland’s first radio beacon in 1929. The foghorn, built in 1903, gave blasts every 90 seconds until 1987. The original light was relit briefly in 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the lighthouse’s 225th anniversary. Visitors find the museum’s displays in the old castle and lighthouse tower. Exhibits include navigation tools, lightkeepers’ uniforms, and model ships. The lantern room offers views over the Moray Firth. The site also holds the old foghorn and the 1902 hyperradiant lens. A modern light still guides ships from beside the museum. The surrounding grounds include purpose-built keeper’s houses from the 19th century.