Start Point Lighthouse
Start Point Lighthouse stands on the southernmost tip of Sanday, one of the Orkney Islands, at the end of a narrow finger of land that juts into the sea where the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet and mingle. It is a striking and remote structure, white-painted against the often grey Orcadian sky, and represents one of Scotland's most dramatically positioned lighthouses. The lighthouse marks a genuinely hazardous stretch of coastline where strong tidal races and shifting currents have long made navigation treacherous for vessels passing through or around the Orkney archipelago. Its position at the very tip of Sanday gives it an almost theatrical sense of exposure, with open sea on nearly every side and the low, flat grassland of the island stretching away behind it.
The lighthouse was built by the Northern Lighthouse Board and dates to 1802, making it among the older surviving lighthouses in Orkney. It was designed by David Stevenson, a member of the renowned Stevenson engineering dynasty that was responsible for so many of Scotland's great lighthouses throughout the nineteenth century. The tower stands approximately 23 metres tall and was originally lit by oil before eventually being converted to electricity and later automated, as happened with most Scottish lighthouses during the latter half of the twentieth century. The history of the site is intimately bound up with the history of maritime trade and the fishing industry in the Northern Isles, and countless vessels over the centuries have relied on its beam to navigate safely around the treacherous sands and tides of Sanday.
Sanday itself takes its name from the Old Norse for "sand island," and the name is apt. The island is famously low-lying and composed largely of sandy beaches, dunes, and fertile machair grassland. Around Start Point, this sandy, windswept character is particularly pronounced. The lighthouse sits on a tidal peninsula known locally as Start Point, and at high tide it can become almost completely surrounded by water, effectively turning it into a small island accessible only by boat. At low tide, a narrow sandy causeway emerges that allows visitors to walk out across the exposed beach and tidal flats to reach the base of the lighthouse. This tidal rhythm gives the place an ever-changing personality depending on when you visit.
In person, the experience of visiting Start Point is defined above all by wind and light. Even on relatively calm days, the Orcadian wind is a constant presence, carrying with it the smell of salt and seaweed. The sound of the sea is omnipresent — waves breaking on sand and rock, the distant crash of larger swells farther out, and the cries of seabirds that nest in large numbers along this coast. Sanday is an important site for wildlife, and the tidal areas and beaches around Start Point attract grey seals, various species of wading birds, and in season, Arctic terns and other migratory species. The lighthouse itself, rendered in white with its characteristic black-and-white banding, has a clean, functional elegance that makes it photogenic from almost any angle.
Sanday is reached from Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, by ferry or by small aircraft. The ferry crossing takes around one and a half to two hours depending on the route and whether the service is direct or calls at other islands. Once on Sanday, reaching Start Point requires travelling across the island, which is some sixteen kilometres long. The roads are quiet and largely single-track, and the journey itself offers views of Sanday's extraordinary beaches, many of which are ranked among the finest in Scotland. A car is practically essential for getting around the island, and hire options on Sanday are limited, so most visitors bring their own vehicle on the Northlink ferry from Kirkwall. The lighthouse grounds are not typically open to the public as a staffed attraction, but the walk out to the point across the tidal sands at low tide is freely accessible and well worth the effort.
The best time to visit is during the late spring and summer months, roughly from May through August, when the weather is most settled and the remarkable Orcadian summer light is at its most extraordinary. At midsummer, Orkney experiences the "simmer dim," a prolonged twilight that barely allows true darkness to fall, and at Start Point this pale, luminous quality of the summer night sky is particularly magical. Visitors should always check tide times carefully before walking out to the lighthouse, as the tidal causeway can flood quickly and catching the tide off-guard is a genuine safety risk. The Northern Lighthouse Board and local community resources provide guidance on safe visiting.
One of the more remarkable facts about Start Point Lighthouse is its banding. Unlike many lighthouses that are plain white, Start Point has a distinctive pattern of vertical black and white stripes, which serves as a daymark allowing mariners to identify it visually in daylight. This striped appearance gives it a slightly whimsical look, almost like a confection set down on the edge of the sea, though its purpose is entirely practical. The lighthouse is listed as a Category A listed building in Scotland, the highest level of protection afforded to historic structures, reflecting both its architectural merit and its historical importance to navigation in the north of Scotland.