Loud and Light Traditional Geocache
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Cache is located near the coastal path that runs between the lighthouse museum and the sea.
Visit http://www.lighthousemuseum.co.uk/ for more info.
In 1570, Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth built the castle of Kinnaird Head. Sir Alex also built the harbour at Fraserburgh but - came near to bankrupting himself in the process, and had to sell much of his property in 1611. Sir Alexander Fraser is said to have had his daughter's lover, of whom he disapproved, chained to a sea cave below the Wine Tower, where the poor man drowned. His daughter, Isobel, threw herself to her death on finding that her lover had been killed. An apparition is said to been seen by the Wine Tower whenever there is a storm.
According to records, the original light at Kinnaird Head was established on 1 December 1787. It was installed by Mr Thomas Smith of Edinburgh, who was the father-in-law of Robert Stevenson who succeeded him as Engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board (Robert Stevenson was grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson). A lantern was set at a height of 120 feet above the sea on a corner of a tower of an old castle in Fraserburgh owned by Lord Saltoun.
Two 'firsts' for Kinnaird Head were (a) the first lighthouse built in Scotland by the Commissioners of Northern Lights (founded in 1786) and (b) the first Radio Beacon in Scotland was introduced in 1929 at Kinnaird Head.
A point of interest regarding the original light is that in 1787 a Mr James Park, Ship Master, was appointed "Keeper of the light" at 1/- per night, with the benefit of some ground, on condition that he had another person with him every night, who he was to instruct in the manner of
cleaning the lantern and cleaning and lighting the lamps.
During the war, Kinnaird Head Lighthouse received only one near miss by enemy bombers, which was rather surprising for the town of Fraserburgh was known as "Little London" because of the heavy bombing and machine-gunning attacks on the town due to the ammunitions work, also work carried out on Rolls Royce aircrafts engines and parts for Bofors guns etc. The near miss happened on 19 February 1941 when two bombs from an aircraft exploded 50 yards from the Lighthouse Buildings. No one was injured and the material damaged due to blast was as follows:-
"3 Lantern panes destroyed, the Radio Beacon aerial cut and several insulators broke, 41 panes of glass in the dwelling houses broken and frames damaged, 1 sliding bolt of balcony door broken. The Supernumerary Keeper's room ceiling was cracked and the ceiling of the first assistant's Kitchen was also cracked."
What possibly saved the Lighthouse from further attacks was the tall, solitary chimneys of a fish processing factory behind the lighthouse promontory from which the enemy raiders took their bearings in the black out.
Kinnaird Head must have been an important landmark in ancient days, when mariners had no compass or other nautical instruments to guide them on their watery way. It is possible that, comparatively speaking, Kinnaird Head was a more important shipping landmark 1,750 years ago than it is today.
The foghorn was built in 1903 and was discontinued in 1987, much to the relief of the locals. It emitted a seven second blast every 75 seconds and could be heard up to 12 miles out at sea, depending on how thick the fog was.
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