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Muckle
Flugga lighthouse
(before 1964 it was named "North
Unst")
Tower: Height: 20 metres, white tower
Elevation: 66 metres
Range: 2 white flashes every 20 seconds, visible for 22 miles
This light is operational
built 1858 by David and Thomas Stevenson
Date automated: 1995
Current use: Active aid to navigation.
A first temporary lighthouse was established
on Muckle Flugga in 1854. Its necessity was forced not at least
by the Crimean war (1854 - 1856). The building was completed
in 26 days but didn't withstand the winter gales, so a permament
lighthouse was built from 1855 - 1858 with foundations sunk
ten feet into the rock.
The lighthouse keepers (3 men were permanently there for 1 month)
were relieved and supplied mainly by helicopter.
Robert Louis Stevenson visited Muckle Flugga in June 1869 as
a Teenager with his father, Thomas Stevenson. Some say, that
he thought of the Island of Unst, when he wrote "Treasure
Island" , since the map in "Treasure Island"
closely resembles a map of the Island of Unst.
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| location |
on small uninhabited island in
the Shetland group of the Northern Isles, on the most northerly
rock of the British Isles, north of the Island of Unst, off
north coast of Scotland.
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| useful
links |
Northern
Lighthouse Board - Muckle Flugga |
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