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Property linked to 125-year-old lighthouse mystery to be restored

News imageJohn Allan/Geograph The station looks like two large houses side by side. The walls are a painted beige colour with red bricks showing along the edges of the gable ends and the windows along its walls. The station sits in an area of grassland.John Allan/Geograph
An Taigh Mòr served as a shore station for Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers, including three men who vanished in 1900

A community group is to restore a historic building linked to the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers 125 years ago.

Thomas Marshall, James Ducat and Donald McArthur vanished from the Flannan Isles lighthouse, west of Lewis in the Western Isles, in December 1900.

It was assumed they had been blown over cliffs, or drowned, while attempting to rescue equipment in bad weather.

Their former shore station at Breasclete in Lewis is to be turned into a community hub with holiday lets by Urras an Tighe Mhòir (UTM).

News imageChris Downer/Geograph The lighthouse is a stubby tower painted white with the glassed top and light behind it. The lighthouse is on a clifftop overlooking the sea. A figure is standing below the lighthouse.Chris Downer/Geograph
The lighthouse is in the Flannan Isles west of Lewis.

UTM has secured planning permission from local authority Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for the revamp of An Taigh Mòr.

The group plans to create a community space, office and exhibition areas on the ground floor.

There will be space dedicated to the lighthouse tragedy and local culture and history, along with library and archive facilities.

Two holiday let units are to be built on the first floor and an adjacent outbuilding, known as the Bothy, is to be converted into a third holiday let.

News imageA map of Scotland showing the locations of the Flannan Isles and Lewis.

The trust originally received planning permission in 2022 for a scheme that included a two-storey contemporary extension.

But some residents raised concerns about its scale, and following further consultation, the extension was dropped.

The revised plans reconfigure the existing building to accommodate all UTM's requirements, including a lift for full accessibility to the first floor.

An Taigh Mòr was designed in 1896 by David Alan Stevenson, a member of the renowned Stevenson lighthouse engineering dynasty.

Construction was completed in 1899.

Originally the property had four apartments - two on each floor - but it was significantly altered in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The condition of the building later deteriorated.

The three keepers disappeared on 15 December 1900.

Their last written entry that morning recorded that routine duties had been completed.

Around midnight the steam ship Archtor passed en route from Philadelphia in the US and reported that no light was visible from the lighthouse.

The mystery inspired the film The Vanishing starring Gerard Butler and Peter Mullan.

Reporting by local democracy reporter Peter Urpeth.