Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
went on to describe the location as being 20 miles from Gallan Head (on the Isle of
Lewis)and46milesnorth-north-eastfromMonachLighthouseandwasinthecentreof
a stretch of unlighted coast 75 miles in length between the Butt of Lewis and Monach.
David Alan described the necessity for a light thus: 'Valuable assistance a light would
afford to the increasing Atlantic trade passing near when passing westward, they grant
their statutory sanction to the establishment of a lighthouse on these islands.'
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The main island of the group, Eilean Mor, was decided upon as being the most suit-
able, as apart from having a relatively flat and largely grassed area on top of the island,
there was plenty of space and it was well elevated from the waterline - up to 150ft at
manypointsandinsomeplaceshigher.InitiallyStevensonhadwantedtoplacethelight
on the most westerly island of the Flannan Islands group, but it was not high enough
to 'show the light over the others'. In addition, the most westerly island was even more
difficult to land on and more inaccessible than the main island of Eilean Mor. In his re-
port, Stevenson mentions that Eilean Mor rises to 280ft above sea level and that, of its
40acres,16acreswasgrass-coveredwiththerestofitbeingrocksandcliffsalongwith
the uninhabited 'Blessing Chapel'. He then mentions the two summits of the island be-
ingalmostthesameheightandallaroundsurroundedbypracticallyverticalcliffs,none
of which were less than 150ft. Stevenson had made his landing on the south side, as he
calledit,andrecommendedthisasthebestsitetomakeanentryontoEileanMor.What
he probably meant was the area of the west landing, which is on the south side of the
island but turns so that it is facing westwards.
In an almost prescient comment about the tragedy which followed seven years later,
Stevenson wrote: 'The landing of materials will obviously be attended with consider-
able difficulty for there is little protection from the Atlantic swell which is seldom at
rest.'
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The major problem, however, was reaching this relatively flat grassy area, especially
with all the building materials that would be required.
The site had been suggested as suitable for the placing of a lighthouse as early as
was done, however, and the matter lay for twenty-seven years when it was again
brought before the Board of Trade by the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses in
1880. Once more, the matter received a lukewarm response. Finally, in 1892, the elder
brethren declined to give their sanction for the building of a lighthouse on Eilean Mor,
but the Northern Lighthouse Commissioners appealed to the Board of Trade as arbit-
er and the board found in favour of the Commissioners. So after a near forty-year wait
from when it was first suggested, the go-ahead was finally given for the Eilean Mor
Lighthouse to be built. In his capacity as engineer to the Commissioners of Northern
