Kinnaird Head Lighthouse

The lighthouse at Kinnaird Head sits on the headland at the northern edge of Fraserburgh, and it was the first of all the Scottish lighthouses, lit by the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1787. Rather than build from scratch, the engineers put the light on top of a 16th-century castle tower that already stood on the point, so the beam still shines from the roof of the squat old keep. The light guided fishing boats and coasters round this exposed corner of the Aberdeenshire coast until 1991, when a small modern light took over on the rocks below. The original tower, its lamp and lenses kept intact, is now the heart of the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, which tells the story of the Board and the Stevenson engineers who built its towers. The odd Wine Tower just below, a windowless little building of uncertain purpose, is worth a look while you’re there.