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Duncansby Head Lighthouse
John-o'-Groats
Duncansby Head lighthouse.JPG
Duncansby Head Lighthouse
Location Duncansby Head
Scotland
United Kingdom
Coordinates 58°38′39″N 3°01′30″W / 58.644039°N 3.025120°W / 58.644039; -3.025120
Year first constructed 1924
Construction concrete tower
Tower shape square tower with balcony and lantern
Markings / pattern white tower, black lantern, ochre balcony
Height 11 m (36 ft)
Focal height 67 m (220 ft)
Intensity 596,000 cd
Range 22 nmi (41 km)
Characteristic Fl W 12 s
Admiralty number A3558
NGA number 3016
ARLHS number SCO-062

Duncansby Head (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Dhunngain or Dùn Gasbaith) is the most northeasterly part of the British mainland, slightly northeast of John o' Groats. It is located in Caithness, Highland, in north-eastern Scotland. The headland juts into the North Sea, with the Pentland Firth to its north and west and the Moray Firth to its south.

Lighthouse

The point is marked by Duncansby Head Lighthouse, built by David Alan Stevenson in 1924.

A minor public road leads from John o' Groats to Duncansby Head, which makes Duncansby Head the farthest point by road from Land's End.

The Duncansby Head Site of Special Scientific Interest includes the 6.5-kilometre (4-mile) stretch of coast south to Skirza Head. It includes the Duncansby Stacks, prominent sea stacks just off the coast.

Atomic Weapon Test

In 2016, it was reported in The Sunday Post newspaper that scientists from the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldemarston had proposed a nuclear weapon test on the Stacks of Duncansby in 1953, but that the prevailing wet weather was too much for contemporary electronics and the idea was shelved.

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