Kinnaird Head

Kinnaird Head Light, Fraserburgh, September 2013

Kinnaird Head Light, Fraserburgh, September 2013

Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Sagaciousphil

Chance Brothers Lighthouse Chance Brothers Lighthouse
  • Date of lens manufacture

    1902

  • Date of lighthouse construction

    1824 (station established 1787)

  • Country

    United Kingdom

  • Commissioning body
    ---
  • Order of lens

    Hyper-radial

  • Fixed or revolving lens
    ---
  • Active/Inactive

    Inactive

  • Describe the character of light
    ---
  • Describe the lighthouses daymarks

    Tower painted white with buff trim; lantern painted black.

  • Which aspects of the lighthouse (other than the lens) were manufactured by Chance brothers
    ---
  • Describe the history of the lighthouse

    Inactive since 1991. Approx. 22 m (72 ft) structure, including a round cylindrical stone tower with lantern and gallery built atop a 16th century stone castle. The hyperradiant Fresnel lens (1902), larger than first order, is one of the largest lenses ever built. The keeper's houses and other light station buldings have been converted into a lighthouse museum.

    This was the first light station established by the Northern Lighthouse Board. The original tower was built in 1787 by Thomas Smith and then rebuilt in 1824 by his son-and-law Robert Stevenson, the founder of the Stevenson lighthouse dynasty. The museum has one of the world's largest collections of Fresnel lenses and lighthouse equipment. Located on a headland just northwest of Fraserburgh. Site open, museum and tower open daily except December 25-26 and January 1-2; also closed Mondays during the winter months.

    About Chance's lens: "Still in situ in the original tower which is now part of the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, which has been superseded by a modern lighthouse."

  • Current management body/ ports authority

    Owner: Kinnaird Head Trust.

  • Historical preservation societies/manager/operator

    Site manager: Museum of Scottish Lighthouses

  • Is the site vulnerable to coastal erosion?
    ---
  • Have you experienced any affects of climate change on the lighthouse?
    ---
  • Observations on the condition of the lighthouse?
    ---
  • Is the site open/closed to the public

    Open

  • Is the tower open/closed to the public

    Open

  • Latitude and Longitude

    57.6977°N 2.0039°W

  • On-site bookable accommodation available
    ---
  • Associated web addresses
  • Other details

    ARLHS SCO-113.

  • Which resources did you use to research this lighthouses?
    ---
added on August 2, 2022
Made In Smethwick: Lighthouses Around the World

In the 1800s, Chance Brothers & Co glassworks in Smethwick began making the hi-tech lenses that lighthouses use to warn ships of dangerous locations. By 1951, over 2,500 lighthouses around the world were fitted with a Chance lens.

Where?

Kinnaird Head Light, Fraserburgh, September 2013
Kinnaird Head Castle Lighthouse, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The light in the lighthouse.
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