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Originally there was no lighthouses in Shetland and then from the 1820's and on the principal
headlands and dangerous off lying reefs and that kind of thing get the main lights on
them. Thats not just happening here you know, its happening on mainland Britain and the
other islands that are situated off the coast of Britain. The Northern Lighthouse Board
build all the main lights to start with and then they start filling in the gaps. Minor
lighthouses like the Muckle Roe light were never intended to be seen way out to sea.
Muckle Roe was not unique in any respect, its not like Sumburgh or Eshaness Lighthouse,
where they are made from the foundation up by hand and individually. They would have
been designed in the Northern Lighthouse Boards draftmenship office and they would have come
up with this design, then when a new minor lighthouse was needed to be made in a different
place they would have adapted the design from this. The Muckle Roe light was originally
paraffin, then changed to acetylene in 1937, then changed to gas in 1965. Carbide is the
name of the fuel and acetylene is the name of the gas. The waste product of this process
once it had been burned would have been this white strip running down over the cliff banks,
that was a standard feature that would have been seen. A lot of the lights used to have
fences around them, the idea being, this was Northern light house property, moreover there
would by cows and horses in the area and it would have prevented them from leaning along
the light house dirtying the exterior. The Muckle Roe Light was a landmark regularly
used as a navigation marker for fisherman. If the weather was overcast or foggy its located
in the midst of a heathery hillside and it is blazing white in colour, making it perfect
to be seen from a distance. In the first world war, the tenth cruiser squadron was a big
naval fleet, which was given the duty of enforcing the blockade, checking the shipping that arrived
and checking the cargo, they would go out to sea and investigate trading ships to see
what they were doing, where they were going and if they were not satisfied with what the
ships were doing or location they were travelling to they would send them in to Lerwick to investigate
them. The wars ships were based in Ollnafirth. In its own uncelebrated way the Muckle Roe
Light was aiding the allied war strategy as it was a navigational marker for warships coming
in and out of the blockade base. The Muckle Roe Light is made in 1897 and shortly their
after you have the building of the Olna whaling station, which opens around 1903. There are
droves of whaling ships, steam whalers towing in the whales they had caught, right past
the Muckle Roe light house, all the way into Ollnafirth where they processed the whales
and at the end of the season out goes the cargo ship carrying the barrels of whale oil.
Muckle Roe light house would have been the first thing that they see. In the 1890's the
Westside Steamer used to come, it was a passenger and cargo boat they belonged to the same company
that travelled from Aberdeen to Lerwick, known as the North of Scotland Shipping Company.
Beside doing that route they also had routes that went around the Shetland coast, nowadays
everything is transported by road but in those days it travelled by the sea. If you had a
cargo full with sacks of oatmeal ordered for the Aith shop then it would come on the Westside
Steamer in past Muckle Roe Light House or if you had bags of welks it would nowadays
go by road but back then it is a crop of the sea as you would expect it went by the sea.....