| Viewing swaag.org website implies consent to set cookies on your computer. Full details | Swaledale and
Arkengarthdale Archaeology Group Registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation Number 1155775 |
SWAAG Honorary President:
Tim Laurie F,S,A, |
| SWAAG News Archive | |
| News Archive | |
| The Point of Oxan | |
| SWAAG member, Sheila Ickringill, gave us a fascinating talk about the Point of Oxan, on Graemsay. Orkney’s many islands have provided natural harbours for shipping down the centuries. Fur trade convoys on their way back from Hudson Bay stopped there in the 17th century and in the 19th century Orkney was the focus of a boom in the herring industry. As in other narrows, the currents off Graemsay would have been treacherous and the passages unmarked. In 1786 an Act of Parliament set up the Northern Lighthouse Board. This oversaw the construction and operation of the first four modern style Scottish lighthouses. The Hoy Sound Low and the Hoy Sound High lighthouses, on the Point of Oxan, were built by Alan Stevenson, son of engineer Robert Stevenson, in 1851. Accommodation was provided for the lighthouse keepers, together with workshops, stables, and byres. Stevenson used a distinctive Egyptian design. The lighthouses with their different heights acted as leading lights but this still didn’t prevent disasters. In 1866 the Albion was wrecked off the shore whilst taking Stafford Pottery to America. The lighthouses were automated in the 1970s. J.H. |
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| News Record: 184 Updated: 31-05-2024 14:00:14 | |