NJ90NE 8.00 97159 05348 NJ90NE 8.01 NJ 97228 05300 Foghorn ['Fog Siren' or 'Torry Coo'] Girdle Ness Lighthouse [NAT] OS 1:10,000 map, 1991. Girdle Ness Lighthouse (flashing white) [NAT] Rain Gauge [NAT] (at NJ 97181 05344) Sundial [NAT] (at NJ 97181 05340) OS (GIS) AIB, May 2006. (Location cited incorrectly as NJ 962 053). Girdleness Lighthouse. Built 1833 by engineer Robert Stevenson. A handsome tapering tower with lanterns at two levels, rising from a semicircular base; the lower lantern is disused. The wrought-iron railings are of the diamond pattern. Keeper's houses are single storey, with flat roofs. J R Hume 1977. This lighthouse is characterised by its unique minaret-like shape silhouette which reflects the former display of a second (low) light as garland of 13 lamps in a covered gallery at a height of 11m; these were removed in 1890 when a new principal lantern was installed. The cast-iron ladders that give access to the upper part of the lantern were embellished with an ascending and descending procession of crocodiles, and the lighthouse also has a fine collection of cast-iron panels and flue-pipes. The preincipal contractor for the construction was John Gibb, and in 1870 the lighthouse was used for the trial installation of paraffin illumination (superseding sperm oil); a radar beacon (Racon) was installed after 1968. D B Hague and R Christie 1975; R W Munro 1979. Visible on air photographs AAS (A)/87/02/S2/1, flown 19 August 1987 and AAS/93/15/G30/6, flown 11 November 1993. (Copies held by Grampian Regional Council) Information from Mrs M Greig, Grampian Regional Council, March 1994. (Newspaper references cited). NMRS, MS/712/84. This site has only been partially upgraded for SCRAN. For full information please consult the Architecture Catalogues for Aberdeen. Information in NMRS, January 1998 NMRS PRINTS AND DRAWINGS Northern Lighthouse Board Drawings. Acc. No: 1987/10. Missing: M/33/201 General Arrangement fo Apparatus M/33/202 Machine Case Base M/33/203 Detail of Mercury Trougth, Revolving Carriages etc... M/33/204 Arrangement of Machine M/33/206 Vertical Shaft in and above Machine M/33/207 Machine Clock M/33/208 Plan of Machine M/33/209 Fog Signal Removal Sheet I M/33/210 Fog Signal Removal Sheet II M/33/211 Siren Clock (Undated) information in NMRS. Built 1833; automated 1991. S Krauskopf 2001.