Bell Rock Lighthouse

The Bell Rock Lighthouse stands 11 miles off the Angus coast of Scotland on a sandstone reef that disappears completely beneath the North Sea at high tide, making it the oldest surviving offshore lighthouse in the world. Robert Stevenson — grandfather of the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson — directed its construction between 1807 and 1810 under punishing conditions: workers had only a few hours at low tide each day to lay stone before the sea reclaimed the rock. The reef, known in medieval times as the Inchcape Rock, had wrecked countless vessels before the lighthouse was built. Fully automated today and operated by the Northern Lighthouse Board, the lighthouse cannot be entered, but boat trips from nearby Arbroath allow visitors to circle the tower at close range.