The Scottish Maritime Museum celebrates the remarkable history of lighthouses, their keepers and the engineers who made them possible in ‘Following the Lights’, a major new exhibition now open in the Museum’s Linthouse building on Irvine Harbourside.
One of the original Seven Wonders of the World, lighthouses have been a beacon of safety for over 2,300 years. Lighthouses appeared In Great Britain and Ireland in the seventeenth century with the growth in transatlantic trade and need to mark hazardous coastline and safe entry to port. ‘Following the Lights’ charts Britain’s iconic lighthouse design through centuries of innovation from the first lighthouse in 1635 and 1821 Fresnel lens – ‘the invention that saved a million ships’ – to solar energy today.
Drawing on a collection of rare artefacts, letters, photography and memorabilia gathered by lighthouse enthusiast and photographer Peter Gellatly, the exhibition also offers visitors a unique insight into the working life of lighthouse keepers.

Miriam Matthews, Exhibitions & Events Officer at the Scottish Maritime Museum, explained: “Our lighthouses are such a familiar and, for many, much-loved sight across our coastline and it’s amazing to think that no two are the same. Each lighthouse has their individual ‘character’. The colour and direction of the beam, and even the speed and pattern of the flashing light, create a code used by mariners to identify the lighthouse and navigate that particular area.

 “Whilst our lighthouses still protect seafarers from the dangers of stormy seas, treacherous reefs and wrecks, advances in electronic navigation systems have made many of these striking landmarks redundant. Following the Lights’ is a celebration of our rich lighthouse heritage and the wider seafaring history which they shine a light on.”
 
The exhibition highlights include a series of photographs of Scottish lighthouses taken between 1901 – 1929 by C. Dick Peddie, Secretary of the Northern Lighthouse Board. As well as an example of the groundbreaking Fresnel Lens, engineering artefacts include a lamp from the 1827 Buchan Ness Lighthouse, designed by the famous Stevenson family, and an AGA lamp (1911) from Preston Dock Buoy Lighthouse, which the harbour master rowed out to light each evening.
 
‘Following the Lights’ also features a WW2 RAF Lighthouse Recognition Map. These military-issued charts helped mariners and airmen identify lighthouses which had been decommissioned or painted in camouflage to avoid the German Luftwaffe using them as directional markers to strike strategic targets.
 
The exhibition also features what is thought to be a patent for a revolutionary lighthouse lens developed by Chance Brothers glassworks company and exhibited in the 1851 Great Exhibition. It features the royal wax seal of Queen Victoria.
 
In addition to a collection of lighthouse and lightship models, including Bell Rock, visitors can also enjoy artefacts giving some insight into a lighthouse keeper’s life. These include a Holy Bible, issued as a ‘moral compass in treacherous waters’ in 1868, crockery bearing the Northern Lighthouse Board motto ‘IN SALUTEM OMNIUM’ – ‘For the safety of all’, letters and postcards. In their spare time, keepers often made toys or models which were sometimes sold to visiting holidaymakers. Exhibition highlights also include a lighthouse in bottle made specially for the exhibition by artist Richard Cummins during Lockdown.
 

Entry to the exhibition is included in Museum Admission. Up to three children go FREE with each Adult/Concession ticket.

‘Following the Lights’ runs until 18 June.

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