A remote lighthouse built in 1858 by the family of Robert Louis Stevenson has been listed for sale in the Shetland Islands for £350,000.
Currently housing an artists’ residency, Bressay Lighthouse offers otherworldly views of the rugged coastline as well as a chance to truly escape the daily grind.
The lighthouse tower itself is no longer staffed or essential for modern navigation, but it once played a crucial role in guiding vessels through Bressay Sound, the sheltered channel separating the island of Bressay from Lerwick. The light was automated in 1987.
Bressay Lighthouse is located at Kirkabister Ness on the southwestern tip of Bressay island which has a population of around 350.
Currently owned by the Shetland Amenity Trust, the complex includes the original lighthouse tower, two keepers’ cottages, an engine room block and the former principal keeper’s building currently used to accommodate the Bressay Lighthouse Artists' Residency, offering accommodation and studio space to visiting artists.
The entire site is designated as a Category B Listed Building which means any restoration or alteration work must follow the standards set by Historic Environment Scotland, using appropriate traditional materials and techniques.
The lighthouse was one of four built in Shetland by the lighthouse engineers Thomas and David Stevenson, the father and uncle of writer Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island). The family was thought to have initially been very disappointed in Robert’s failure to continue his in family’s line of work as an engineer.
It is also thought that David Stevenson initially maintained that building a lighthouse in Shetland was impossible, and that any captain who took his ship through this route was mad.
Today, the keeper’s building contains a bedroom and living space for an artist, plus studio space and three display rooms. The single-storey detached stone building has a mix of timber and stone flooring, plasterboard-lined walls, timber-framed single glazing, and wall-mounted electric heaters.
The semi-detached single-storey cottages have harled exterior walls and each contain three double bedrooms, a living and kitchen space and one bathroom. They have previously been used as holiday rentals.
Bressay island is a seven-minute ferry from Lerwick, the main town and port on the mainland — Shetland’s principal island.
There are direct flights from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness to Sumburgh Airport which is on the southern tip of the Shetland mainland, around 25 miles from Lerwick.
The drive from Bressay Lighthouse to Sumburgh Airport takes around an hour, including the ferry to Lerwick.
