Crammag Head Lighthouse

Crammag Head Lighthouse is located about 5 miles northwest of the Mull of Galloway. A lighthouse has stood on Crammag Head since 1913, but the current lighthouse was established in December 2009. The first lighthouse was powered by acetylene gas.

During the Second Word War it was replaced with a cylinder, with a light on top. This archive image shows the previous beacon.

The current lighthouse is 7 metres high, with an elevation of 35 metres, and has a range of 18 miles. It sits on a square concrete platform roughly 32 feet long. It is constructed of GRP and stainless steel.

Part of the lighthouse site is on top of an ancient dun or broch. The Iron Age fort and dun feature an outer turf-covered bank and ditch and an inner rock-cut ditch and causeway. The dun is partially visible as a crescent-shaped line of stonework. The fort and dun are partially overlain by the lighthouse, which is excluded from the monument’s official designation.

The east part of the stone structure which was 60ft in diameter has been destroyed by the construction of a water tank and storehouses. The surviving masonry is very large and broch-like.

An old observer post and gun emplacement was established by the lighthouse during the Second World War, and are still in evidence.

Crammag Head Lighthouse can be reached from Slockmill farm, though there is limited parking close by. Please please park considerately nearby or along the road.  From the farm, the footpath is signposted, and there are two pathways, one, the more direct path, follows the fields across to the lighthouse.  The other heads up steeply and is more challenging, but affords spectacular views down the coastline towards the Mull of Galloway and beyond. Please note that there may also be cattle within the fields, so dogs should be kept on a lead.

The area is a popular site for rock climbers, and there are caves nearby.

The following is a YouTube video featuring Lighthouse Attendant Dr Barry Miller and John Ross, Retired Commisioner for the Northern Lighthouse Board at Crammag Head Lighthouse, who tell some of the history of the lighthouse.