Far away you can just make out the Skerryvore Lighthouse and, to the right, waves breaking on the reef
The signal tower - the means of communicating with the lighthouse
Lighthousemen's houses at Hynish
This weekend on Tiree our digs were in one of the buildings that used to make up the settlement that built and supported the Skerryvore Lighthouse.Skerryvore was built on a deadly lump of reef some 10 miles from Tiree by Alan Stevenson (uncle of Robert Louis).
The place and an excellent exhibition got us thinking about lighthouse people. Imagine being stuck on a rock in the middle of the ocean keeping the lamp burning through the night. The only contact with the outside world being semaphore messages to the signal tower.
The Panther reckons that would have been his ideal job if there was still call for lighthouse people. I'm not so sure. The peace and quiet would be lovely - and there really wouldn't be any excuse for not getting deadlines met - but I think I'd feel very trapped. What do you think?
