Calvay lighthouse is a Grade C listed building in the Na h-Eileanan Siar local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 11 December 2020. Light beacon.
Calvay lighthouse
- WRENN ID
- gilded-wicket-coral
- Grade
- C
- Local Planning Authority
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Constituency
- Na h-Eileanan an Iar MP: Torcuil Crichton (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 11 December 2020
- Type
- Light beacon
- OS grid reference
- NF 821 179
- Coordinates
- 57.14233, -7.25623
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
Calvay lighthouse is a solar-powered minor light, or light beacon, built in 1985. It stands on a square concrete base and features a square aluminium open lattice tower that is 6 metres tall. The tower is topped with an open gallery that holds a small solar-powered lantern, and it has white glass-reinforced plastic panels on the three seaward sides—east, west, and north. The automatic LED lights flash white, red, and green every ten seconds, with a range of seven nautical miles for the white light and four nautical miles for both the red and green lights. Inside the aluminium lattice frame, there is a metal ladder leading up to the gallery, and solar panels are mounted on the southern side of the lighthouse.
Historically, in 1890, the West Highland Commission recommended improvements to navigation lights in the West Highlands and Islands to support trade, including the fishing industry. Their report advocated for a light on Calvay to mark the entrance to Loch Boisdale. The first light at Calvay was constructed in 1891, designed to be visible from the clifftop during the day. In 1985, the Northern Lighthouse Board replaced this original light with the current solar-powered lattice aluminium tower as part of a shift from older minor light designs to more modern gas-powered and solar-powered options aimed at reducing costs. A similar SPLAT lighthouse was also established in 1985 on the nearby island of Gasay (or Gasaigh).
Local climate
Calvay lighthouse sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,460 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 98% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.
It averages fewer than one freeze-thaw cycle a year. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°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.
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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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