Southerness Lighthouse is a Grade A listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 4 November 1971.
Southerness Lighthouse
- WRENN ID
- eternal-render-pine
- Grade
- A
- Local Planning Authority
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Constituency
- Dumfries and Galloway MP: John Cooper (Con)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 4 November 1971
- OS grid reference
- NX 977 542
- Coordinates
- 54.87282, -3.59503
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Southerness Lighthouse is a lighthouse tower, initially built in 1748 as a navigational marker by Peter Milligan, a mason of Burran. The original structure was a pillar intended to be 30 feet high, with a beacon planned for its top. It was subsequently heightened at the instigation of Mrs Oswald of Auchencruive, and became a lighthouse around 1811. The lighthouse was raised to its present height between 1842 and 1843 by Walter Newall. It was disused from 1867 until thorough modernisation and reopening on 4 August 1894.
The tall, slightly battered tower is square in plan and built of painted rubble. At the upper level, three angles curve inwards towards the curved glazed light opening; a curved parapet walkway is supported by corbels in front of this opening. A segmental-arched and boarded doorway with an iron “yett” is located at the foot of the east face. The tower is topped by a curved, low-pitched slate roof with an apex ventilator. Inside, there is a wooden stair.
The lighthouse was originally built and formerly maintained by Dumfries Town Council. A 1837 report documented a height of 36 feet. It was marked on Ainslie’s map of 1797 as a “landmark”. A "Lighthouse" keeper was appointed in 1811.
The building is now disused.
Local climate
Southerness Lighthouse sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,130 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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