Turnberry

The Mull of Kintyre is the south-westernmost tip of the Turnberry Lighthouse was intended to warn shipping off the nearby Bristo Rock which was responsible for numerous maritime disasters. Engineers David and Thomas Stevenson examined the rock and reported on 18 May 1869 that it was inadvisable to erect a lighthouse on the rock itself but suggested that the best place would be on Turnberry Point, where it now stands. It is situated close to the 9th hole of Turnberry Golf Course in what was once the moat of Turnberry Castle, birthplace of Robert the Bruce in 1274.

This lighthouse has unusual surroundings with plenty of scope for nature study and very early observations of birds migration, for example, were recorded by lightkeepers long before observatories were established on the Isle of May and Fair Isle.

The light was first exhibited on 30 August 1873, the character of one flash every 12 seconds was decided upon to distinguish from Corsewall and Davaar Lights. The lighthouse was automated in 1986 and is now remotely monitored from the Northern Lighthouse Boards offices in Edinburgh.