Moray Moments
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This picture of Moray's iconic lighthouse at Covesea was taken by Tom McPherson.
Following a storm in the Moray Firth in November 1826 when 16 vessels were sunk, applications were made for lighthouses at Tarbat Ness, on the opposite coast, and at Covesea Skerries.
The Commissioners of Northern Light Houses (the precursor of the Northern Lighthouse Board) initially felt that a lighthouse at Covesea was unnecessary – but this was against public opinion.
Many letters and petitions were delivered and eventually a working party was set up to look for the best location.
They recommended a lighthouse on the Craighead with a beacon on Halliman's Skerries.
The Covesea Skerries Lighthouse was completed in 1846 at a cost of £11,514 (equivalent to £1,123,215 in today's money).
The lens was rotated by a clockwork mechanism which involved weights gradually descending down the tower.
This original lens is now on display at the Lossiemouth Fisheries and Community Museum.
During strong winds the surrounding walls caused vortices in the yard which interfered with lightkeepers lookout, so they were lowered in 1907.
In 1984 the lighthouse became automated, and was thereafter remotely monitored and controlled from the NLB's offices in Edinburgh.
The light was extinguished on March 2, 2012.
It was replaced by a navigational buoy fitted with a beacon at the north eastern extremity of the Halliman Skerries.
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