Fair Isle South Lighthouse
Shetland Isles
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Location Guide |
Located at the south west tip of the island. There are two lighthouses on Fair Isle, this
one and the
Fair Isle North
Lighthouse.
A noticeable difference to the visitor, between the two, is that the height of
the light from the ground, at this lighthouse it is 73 feet, which equates to
another 26 feet of stair-climbing against that required at the North Light.
Photo by
Dr Julian
Paren
Three members of keepers' families were killed
at this station during during World War II, during German air raids in 1941-42,
and the buildings suffered significant damage. During the first raid the wife of
the assistant keeper and her infant daughter was slightly hurt. Six weeks later
a second attack took place and this time the wife and daughter of the Principal Lightkeeper were killed, when a bomb struck the main building. A second bomb
destroyed the west gable. At this time the lighthouse keeper and his daughter
from the
Fair Isle North
Lighthouse,
trekked 3 miles, through snowdrifts and gale force
winds, to help restore the light back to operational order.
There is no mains electricity supply on Fair
Isle apart from a local wind generator, so the lights are driven by diesel
generators. The fog horn used compressed air until it was replaced with an
electric emitter during automation.
In March 1998, the keepers left this lighthouse
and it was the last Scottish lighthouse to be automated.
Fair Isle
has a permanent bird observatory founded in 1948, and as well as
providing a watch point for bird migration it also provides most of the
accommodation on the island. It is unusual in that it provides catered
accommodation rather than hostel-style. Many rare species have been found on the
island.
Fair isle is an isolated island 30 miles south
of the Shetland mainland. It is accessible by air from Lerwick, twice a week in
the summer and once in winter, or by Ferry from Sumburgh Head, near the
Sumburgh
Head Lighthouse,
3 times a week in summer and once a week in winter. The permanent
population is less than 100.
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