The Lighthouse On Elie Ness

As it Once Was

Winged Victory and Elie Lighthouse share the same fate

                The lighthouse. As It Is Today

This is an appeal for someone to come forward and take the initiative to form and head up a not-for-profit organization, (Friends of the Elie Lighthouse), for the purpose of restoring the outward appearance of our Stevenson lighthouse to the look of how it was designed and built and as it stood on the Elie Ness for the first half of its lifetime. 

The lighthouse is currently operated and administered by The Northern Lighthouse Board www.nlb.org.uk  

About five months from now on October 1, 2008 the  lighthouse will have shone its reassuring light for 100 years. 

How the  lighthouse looked when it was built is a far cry from how it looks today.  Then it was topped with a distinctive glass lantern house and it was crowned  by a sloping copper roof and a weather vane.    

The lighthouse  was pristine and looked like a traditional lighthouse.  To me there's nothing more forlorn than a lighthouse that's been decapitated and Winged Victory in the Louvre our lighthouse isn't.  Leaving the top of our lighthouse off is no different than if the Nelson Column, Big Ben, the Scott Monument or the steeple of the local church  had their upper sections removed, for whatever reason, then were left that way.

The present-day topless look of the  lighthouse came about as a result of the flashing light being automated. 

The entire upper lantern house structure  was removed including the system of fresnel lens that surrounded the acetylene gas flame and the rotating light beam.  (Acetylene gas for the light source was generated at the lighthouse by equipment that added water to calcium carbide.)   In its place was installed a flashing  electric light bulb.   When this happened an iron stairway was attached to the  upper structure of the lighthouse and a wooden shed was erected alongside. 

The lighthouse doesn't have to look like it now does. There's more to accomplishing an objective than by doing it in the easiest and cheapest way. Lighthouses around the world have been converted from flame to the flashing light being created by means of an intermittently flashing electric light. When this new technology was embodied into these lighthouses their original external appearances were carefully and meticulously preserved so each lighthouse would have the best of both worlds.  

After the "deed" as I paused in my search for rubies at the Ladies Tower nearby the inspirational aura that our lighthouse had emitted became a thing of my past. Each day after the deed, in my naivety, I expected  the top to the lighthouse to be put back on but the days went into weeks, then months. Now it's been so many years that I've forgotten exactly how many. I don't know about you but how the job was done still rankles me.   The local people who live with the lighthouse and look at it everyday should have been made aware as to what was about to happen to get their input and involvement. The decision as to how the conversion would be carried out must have been made by officials, in some far away city office, who's lives wouldn't be impacted by the outcome.

There was one lady artist who each summer would set up her easel and lovingly make one more painting of the lighthouse. After the beheading she never made another and I well understood why.

The lighthouse, at one time, fulfilled the utilitarian purpose of protecting and guiding mariners.

With the technological advancements of Radar and Satellite Global Positioning it's day of maritime usefulness is about over.

In this world of rapid change  lighthouses transcend physical maritime utility.

Lighthouses are more than just guiding lights that shine in the darkness. 

During the hours of daylight, as lighthouses stand steadfast on windswept promontories, lighthouses make a statement and are a source of inspiration whether viewed by the eye of the beholder or the brain of the absentee. 

A celebration of the 100 year anniversary on the 1st. of October 2008 would be the ideal time to launch a public appeal for restoration funds.   However nothing will change unless someone or some entity comes forward to make it happen.

A  source of restoration funding also could be the national Heritage Lottery Fund www.hlf.org.uk which provides funding for worthwhile historical, restoration projects.  

The lighthouse is a visible link to our Scottish History and Maritime Heritage.