National Records of Scotland is inviting people to discover the remarkable history behind Scotland’s lighthouses through a series of free talks linked to a new exhibition celebrating some of the country’s most enduring maritime landmarks.
The programme accompanies the summer exhibition For the Safety of All: Scotland’s Lighthouses, which opens in Edinburgh this August and explores the engineering achievements, human stories and enduring legacy of Scotland’s coastal lights.
At the heart of the exhibition is the Bell Rock Lighthouse, located 12 miles off the coast of Arbroath and widely recognised as the oldest working sea washed lighthouse in the world.
Built on a reef that disappears beneath up to 16 feet of water at high tide, the lighthouse has guided mariners safely for more than two centuries and remains one of Scotland’s most celebrated engineering feats.
The first event in the talks series will take place on 27 July at the Arbroath Signal Tower Museum, which once served as the shore station for Bell Rock Lighthouse.
Archivists from National Records of Scotland will explain how people can begin tracing their own family history through Scotland’s People, the genealogy service operated by NRS that provides access to millions of birth, marriage, death and census records.
The session will draw on examples connected to the Stevenson family, whose generations of lighthouse engineers helped shape Scotland’s coastline and whose work still captures the imagination today.
Visitors will also learn about lighthouse keeper employment records that can be accessed through the service, offering a glimpse into a profession that once demanded resilience, isolation and dedication in equal measure.
Attention then turns to Edinburgh where the remaining talks will be hosted at General Register House.
On 13 August, Northern Lighthouse Board Chief Executive Mike Bullock will present a talk entitled More than Lighthouses, examining how the organisation now manages lights, buoys and beacons across Scottish and Isle of Man waters in an era increasingly defined by automation.
The human experience of life in lighthouses will be explored further on 10 September by storyteller Dr Erin Farley, editor of Lighthouse Lives, which records memories from those who witnessed the transition from manned stations to automated operations.
A film connected to the oral history project will also form part of the exhibition.
The final talk on 21 September will feature researcher and author Dr Alison Morrison Low, whose work Northern Lights: the Age of Scottish Lighthouses examines the scientific and technological developments that transformed maritime safety.
Among the exhibition’s most compelling artefacts is a letter documenting the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from the Flannan Isles in 1900, which will go on public display for the first time.
The mystery of the missing keepers has fascinated generations and remains one of Scotland’s most enduring maritime stories.
For the Safety of All: Scotland’s Lighthouses runs from 3 August until 25 September at General Register House in Edinburgh, with free admission available throughout the exhibition period and a special opening planned for Doors Open Day on 26 September.
Tickets for the talks are free but are expected to be in high demand, with details due to appear soon through National Records of Scotland’s Eventbrite page and the Angusalive website.
