Lighthouse, Southerness

  'Southerness Lighthouse 1959.   At Southerness Point, on the Galloway side of the Solway, there stands erected on the rocks below high-water mark, a disused lighthouse, one of the very oldest lights in Scotland.   It is a valiant and attractive feature of the coasts which has a place in the affections of all who are born and bred on the shores of the Solway and associate it with the great trading days of the late eighteenth century, when the lights ushered ships into the Firth with cargoes from all parts of the world.   The lighthouse is a tall square tower built of local stone, at first the structure, 30 odd feet high, was simply a landmark, not lit, until-in 1795-after being heightened, it started functioning as a shorelight. Since then the tower was heightened again and a new light installed at 50 feet above high-water mark.   For generations the light served an ever-increasing traffic in the Firth, giving guidance to coasting and overseas traders, the great Transatlantic tobacco ships and the emigrant fleets until, in 1939, it was finally extinguished.'   Dr Kissling's note, 1978