Lady's Rock Lighthouse

Lady’s Rock Lighthouse stands on a skerry two kilometres south-west of Duart Point, at the meeting of the Sound of Mull and Loch Linnhe. The skerry is submerged at high tide, leaving only the white pyramid tower visible above the waves. The Northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh maintains the light, one of many it keeps along Scotland’s western coast. The rock itself is called Sgeir Mhòr in Gaelic, meaning ‘big skerry’. It lies within Argyll and Bute, part of the Inner Hebrides archipelago. The tower’s dramatic history begins in 1527 when Lachlan Maclean of Duart tried to murder his wife, Lady Catherine Campbell. He left her on the skerry at low tide, expecting her to drown. The next morning, from Duart Castle, he saw no sign of life and sent a message to the Earl of Argyll in Inveraray, claiming he would bring her body for burial. When Maclean arrived with a coffin and escort, Lady Catherine was already seated at the high table. Locals from Tayvallich or Lismore had rescued her during the night. Maclean was later killed in Edinburgh by Sir John Campbell, Lady Catherine’s brother. Visitors approach the lighthouse by boat from Mull or Lismore. At low tide the rock is exposed, revealing the base of the tower and the surrounding reef. The current lantern is a small red aluminium turret, replacing the original optic in 2001. From the deck of the vessel the stark white tower rises sharply from the dark water, a stark reminder of the skerry’s perilous nature. The view takes in the Sound of Mull and the distant hills of Morvern, framing a quiet corner of the Inner Hebrides.