Monument record MHG55417 - Lighthouse loading platform, Brough

A platform 1.9 metres long and 1.4 metres wide, built of sandstone blocks with a rubble core and situated at the north side of the B855 road. Its function was to facilitate the transport of stores to Dunnet Head Lighthouse and the following procedure is understood to have been used. Stores, including barrels of oil for the light, were delivered by sea to Brough slipway and held temporarily in the Lighthouse Store nearby. Onward transport to the lighthouse was by horse-drawn cart. The steep incline from the harbour to the brae head placed a limit on the size of load that could be hauled for that part of the journey. Transport was therefore carried out in two stages. Stores were transported first to the platform where they were unloaded. When a full load had accumulated at the platform it was loaded onto the cart for the second stage of the journey which had a lesser gradient.
The platform has a kerb on three sides to prevent barrels rolling off. The front face has two recesses at 0.93 metre centres designed to support the rear of the cart chassis as the load was transferred.
The ditch behind the platform was cleaned and piped c 1990 by the Local Authority. This caused the structure to tilt and the back wall to collapse. In 2011 the Brough Bay Association restored the platform as part of the Brough Community Harbour Project. The blocks were numbered and the platform was dismantled. A concrete foundation slab was laid and the platform was rebuilt and pointed with lime mortar. Two iron reinforcing bars at the front of the platform were found to be in sound condition and were reused.
The platform is sometimes referred to locally as the ‘Oil Share’.
Dunnet Head Lighthouse was built in 1831 and it is likely that the platform dates from then.

Information submitted by David Glass for Brough Bay Association <1>