The Riv Beacon, Sanday

The Riv Beacon, Sanday was built in 1863-4 by the Northern Lighthouse Board to plans by the board's engineer, Alan Stevenson. This unlit beacon marks the seaward end of the Riv, a low-lying and partially submerged reef of rock, boulders and stones, extending around 1km north from the point of Burness, west of Whitemill Bay, on the North Ronaldsay Firth.

The Riv Beacon stands on bedrock and is an iron structure 14m in height, constructed of six columns of cast iron with horizontal bracing. The columns are surmounted by a cylindrical open iron cage with a cross on top. This served as a place of refuge for shipwrecked mariners. An iron platform and ladder within the columned structure provided access from ground level to the cage.

Historical development

The Old Statistical Account (Cross, Burness, North Ronaldshay and Ladykirk, County of Orkney, OSA, Vol. VII, 1793) describes the hazard to shipping posed by the islands of Sanday and North Ronaldsay, with some 5000 tons of shipping lost around the islands over an 18 year period until 1793.

In 1806, a lighthouse was placed at Start Point, the easternmost point of the island of Sanday. Replacing an earlier unlit tower, this lighthouse served to mark the eastern entrance to the North Ronaldsay Firth. However, the western approaches to the North Ronaldsay Firth remained unmarked, including the notable hazard of the Riv where four shipwreck incidents are recorded in the National Record for the Historic Environment as occurring between 1809 and 1864 (see Canmore IDs 259016; 269216;285503;119366).

Construction of a beacon at The Riv began in 1863, and recommenced in spring 1864 (Orkney Herald, and Weekly Advertiser and Gazette for the Orkney & Zetland Islands - Tuesday 12 April 1864). The completion of the beacon was announced by Northern Lighthouse Board in a Notice To Mariners (Orkney Herald, and Weekly Advertiser and Gazette for the Orkney & Zetland Islands - Tuesday 6 September 1864). It appears as 'beacon' on OS First Edition mapping (surveyed 1879, published 1882) and is shown as a red beacon 34ft high on Admiralty Chart (revised to 1893).