The United Kingdom (officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, the kingdom of Scotland has shared its monarch with England since 1603 and has been part of the United Kingdom since 1707. The coastline of the country is deeply cut by inlets, and there are more than 790 islands. The country has a long and distingushed maritime history; many of the most famous British captains and navigators have been Scots. Scotland was divided historically into 34 counties; the counties no longer have any administrative function although they continue to have cultural significance. Most of them survive as lieutenancy areas, the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarch's representatives. Since 1996 the country has been divided into 32 council areas for the purposes of local government. This page covers lighthouses of southwestern Scotland from the Glasgow area southward, including the the south side of the Clyde estuary and the council areas of Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and Dumfries and Galloway. The Scottish word loch is used both for lakes and for inlets of the sea; a firth is a larger bay or strait and a mull is a rounded headland. The Scottish Gaelic phrase for a lighthouse is taigh solais; eilean is an island, sgeir is a skerry or rock, and rubha or àird is a cape or promontory. The Northern Lighthouse Board ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from Volume A of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 114.
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Dumfries and Galloway Lighthouses
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![]() Portpatrick Light, Portpatrick, August 2021 Google Maps photo by Peter Mahon |
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South Ayrshire Lighthouses
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North Ayrshire Lighthouses
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Renfrewshire (Clyde Estuary South Side) Lighthouses
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![]() Blythswood Light, Renfrew, April 2024 Google Maps photo by Idris Evans |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Argyll and Bute | South: Northwestern England
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted October 19, 2004. Checked and revised July 2, 2024. Lighthouses: 39. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.