Reviews
A rich compendium of memories supplied by lighthouse keepers, their families, and other lighthouse workers... the sheer depth and extent of the material assembled in this book will leave readers in no doubt as to the quality of the oral history project
The National
A fascinating insight into the profession of lighthouse keeping, the coastal towns in which keepers worked and the social context of the Northern Lighthouse Board
Oban Times
About the Book
Lighthouses are enduring symbols of resilience, hope and safety. The human stories of the keepers’ lives, and the scale of the human effort that went into lighthouse keeping before automation, are fascinating.
This book tells the stories of the last generation to work on manned lighthouses in Scotland. The interviews record the life experiences of more than fifty former lighthouse keepers and their families who worked in Scotland and the Isle of Man before and during the process of lighthouse automation, which was completed in 1998. The job of lighthouse keeper led to a unique perspective on life, as keepers worked within small close-knit communities around each lighthouse to watch the lights, maintain the lighthouses and respond to emergencies. The keepers’ families, and the Northern Lighthouse Board’s engineers and boat crews, were also part of an extended lighthouse community along the entire Scottish coastline.
The interviews, conducted by Erin Farley and Martine Robertson between 2012 and 2019, are a fascinating insight into the world of lighthouse keeping, the coastal communities in which keepers worked, the social context of the Northern Lighthouse Board, and the changing nature of work, technology and place in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century.
The Author
Erin Farley
Erin Farley is a storyteller and writer who has performed at book and storytelling festivals across Scotland. She was a fieldworker on the Northern Lighthouse Board Oral History Project between 2013 and 2015, interviewing former lighthouse keepers and their families, engineers, boat crew and trustees. She is the author of Angus Folk Tales, co-editor of In One Woman’s Life: Celebrating Mary Brooksbank and has also contributed to other publications.
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