chris henry - museum of scottish lighthouses general

7/27/2019 Chris Henry - Museum of Scottish Lighthouses General

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Museum of Scottish LighthousesKinnaird Head

Fraserburgh



• Opened in 1995

• Two sites: historic castle and museum

• Three elements, people, objects and buildings

•People- Light keepers, Stevenson family

•Building- castle converted in 1824, modified in 1902•Objects-archives, library, technical collection, social history

collection.



Origins:

First Lighthouse on mainland Scotland built by the Northern

Lighthouse Board/Trust

NLB collection

Stevenson collection

Archive

Photographs including

Keith Allardyce collection



Kinnaird Head Castle



Stevenson’s Tower



Seventy Two Step Staircase



Thomas Smith

First engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Trust

Tinsmith and lamp maker

Designed the multi faceted reflector

Step-father of Robert Stevenson



Robert Stevenson

Self taught engineer, became

engineer to NLB .

1800 becomes Partner to Thomas

Smith.

Greatest work the Bell Rock

Lighthouse off Arbroath. Assistant

Engineer under John Rennie.

From 1811 begins own

engineering practice.

Grandfather of Robert Louis

Stevenson.



Bell Rock Lighthouse



General operation

Open all year round- seven days a week. October-March

limited hours.

27,000 2006

Franchise café

Web visitors.

Other activities: corporate entertainment, weddings, music

events.



Funding

•Independent Museum

•Funded by grant

•Aberdeenshire Council-Core Funding

•Admissions

•Shop

•External Sponsors



External factors

•Government policy tending towards charitable status for

museums. Only some money available for significance

scheme.

•Partnership with Historic Scotland, they pay for the buildingmaintenance.

•New projects have to be related to other organisations



Maintaining the buildings

• Maintained by HistoricScotland

• Cost approximately

£400000 per year

• Conservation issues

high priority



Visitor Trends

• Foreign visitors over the period came from the following countries: United States, Australia, New

Zealand, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, India and Slovenia.

• It is clear that visitors from foreign countries visit the museum in large numbers, being almost half of

those paying to visit the museum.

• Nevertheless over fifty percent were from Scotland and a high proportion were from Aberdeenshire and

the local area but few were from Fraserburgh.

• From the surveys it was also important to note that Aberdeen and Inverness were important transit

areas from which foreign and Scottish tourists a. found out about their destination or b. were advised to visit

by the TIC or Hotel they were using.

• In both cases the visitors were coming to see the museum and not the town, therefore this demonstratesthat the museum plays an important role in attracting visitors to the area. In conjunction with the statements

made in the SMC’s report this would seem to confirm their findings.



Travel Guides

Tourist

Information

Centre

Leaflet

Website

Media

Word of mouth

Leaflet

Website

Method by

which they

heard of themuseum

78%73%Percentage of

people who

came

specifically to

visit the

museum

115125 Numbers of

Surveys

Outside

Scotland

ScotlandRegion



Sponsors

Chevron oil – Wreckers Exhibition

Heritage Lottery Fund – Seascapes audio visual and

display gallery

Building Banff and Buchan – Internet development



Accreditation

Application made in 2005

Initial discussions April July 2006

Scottish Museums Council visit October 5 2006Demonstration of sound collection systems

Accountability for collections

Acceptable level of physical and intellectual access for

the public.



Seascapes

Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund

New audio visual experience.Film including oral interviews associated with the local ship owners and

fishermen exploring issues of danger and safety.

Encompassed conservation students, Aberdeenshire Oral History. Association, Film students and Chard House Media.



Star objects



Lighthouse

Charter 1685



Isle of May sketchbook c.1881



Argand lamp converted by Alan Stevenson c.1840



Brass box owned by Thomas Smith dated 1790



Photograph Album donated by Quentin Stevenson



New developments

Demolition of seafront properties

Demolition of Victoria Hotel

Construction of affordable housing opposite museum

Possible new store building available

Creation of new lighthouse next to the old one.

chris henry - museum of scottish lighthouses general

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