Noss Head Lighthouse

This journey stone depicts the lighthouse at Noss Head. It was built in 1849 by Alan Stevenson, uncle to Robert Louis Stevenson. Alan was a classicist as well as an engineer, and interested in classical architecture, hence the Greek pediment above the lighthouse door, and the curves on the chimney stacks. The Stevenson family innovated with every lighthouse they built, and Noss Head was the first to have the triangular window panes, now retrofitted to all the Scottish Lighthouses. Most Scottish Lighthouses have a white and ochre coloured livery - I suspect that the ochre was chosen because it is so similar to the colour of rust on white paint. We live in the lighthouse keepers' cottages here, and this is the view of the lighthouse from my front door, adjusted for perspective. The light beams spell out the names in morse code of the six of us who created the panel, BEN, LIENE and ANN on the left, JILL, LORRAINE and ELEANOR on the right.