Muckle Flugga Lighthouse

Muckle Flugga lighthouse punctuates the rocky stack of Muckle Flugga, in Shetland, Scotland. Originally called North Unst Lighthouse, it was renamed in 1964. The brothers Thomas and David Stevenson designed and built the lighthouse in 1854, originally to protect ships during the Crimean War. First lit on 1 January 1858, it stands 64 feet (20 m) high, has 103 steps to the top, and is Britain's most northerly lighthouse. The light beam flashes white every 20 seconds, with a nominal range of 22 nautical miles (41km). In March 1995 it was fully automated. Thomas's son Robert Louis Stevenson, the writer, visited it as a young man (on 18 June 1869). As a result, Unst became his inspiration for the map of "Treasure Island". The lighthouse was served by the Grace Darling which was launched from the boat house below the lighthouse shore station in Burrafirth. Supplies were winched up by the blondin cable hoist to the courtyard, from the boat in a natural cleft of the rocks that provides a degree of harbourage. This lighthouse was also used as a setting for the wartime comedy Back-Room Boy.