Eilan (Broken) Glas

Up in Scalpay and this is historic y'know. The big lighthouse tower is, naturally, a Stevenson job; but the original tower contained one of the first four lighthouse lanterns lit in Scotland. It was built by Thomas Smith, the adoptive father of Stevenson Snr (I'm reliably informed by friend Andy what knows about these things) and is a little circular building which, sadly, no longer has a roof. You see the buildings around the tip-top candy-striped tower are in something of a major state of dilapidation.

It was weird wandering around. You can actually get into the original tower, the beams rotting above you; and some of the house of the original lighthouse keeper (Alexander Reid, who arrive in 1789 and stayed some 35 years) is wanderable, but similarly run down. Two other, more modern (by the standards of when the first lighthouse was put in place) buildings are locked up. A Greco-Egyptian building is rather elaborate, and looks in better nick, but the windows were whited impenetrable. Opposite is a more plain building (though painted white and sand), through whose windows you can see an old bedroom, and what looks like a bar/café and kitchen.

Underneath the ornate building are a couple of storage sheds, clogged with crap, from a bar pool table, to a sit on mower. Another friend, Paddy, can remember staying in the keeper's house when it could be rented (before the days of the bridge over to Scalpay), so I assume there were maybe a collection of rentals available, ad some communal kitchen/dining area with the pool table, but I'll check that out.

It felt odd walking round something so historic and sadly falling to pieces. A little note in one window from the Eilan Glas Trust explained some of it away. It would appear it had gone a little the wrong way anyway (presumably having closed its doors to visitors) and then was targeted by vandals (who must have been dedicated given it's either a boat journey or a half hour or more walk) who broke doors and 66 windows, the doors they could repair themselves, the windows needed a insurance claim, which meant premiums went through the roof, which then became non-existent on the oldest buildings during the storms of 2006, after they had had to stop paying the exorbitant insurance costs. Efforts are underway to raise finds for the lighthouse, but this is the type of project that needs a Bill Gates style sugar-daddy. It's a massive task, and one which should be undertaken.