Bell Rock Lighthouse

Angus, United Kingdom

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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Standing 35 metres tall on the Bell Rock (also called Inchcape), 11 miles east of the Firth of Tay in the North Sea off Angus, Scotland, this lighthouse is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed structure of its kind. Built between 1807 and 1810 by engineer Robert Stevenson using Cairngall granite, it was constructed to such exacting standards that its masonry has required no replacement or adaptation in over two centuries. The light is visible from 35 statute miles inland. Though its original lamps and reflectors were replaced in 1843 (those components now reside at Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland), the lighthouse has operated continuously, fully automated since 1988 and remotely monitored by the Northern Lighthouse Board. The engineering feat required to build on this treacherous rock site earned the lighthouse recognition as one of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. A companion shore station, the Bell Rock Signal Tower, was erected in 1813 at Arbroath harbour and now serves as a visitor museum documenting the lighthouse's history.