Covesea Skerries Lighthouse
The lighthouse photographed in June 1983
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 Scotland
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| Location |
Lossiemouth Moray Scotland |
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| Coordinates | 57°43′27″N 3°20′19″W / 57.724167°N 3.338580°WCoordinates: 57°43′27″N 3°20′19″W / 57.724167°N 3.338580°W |
| Year first constructed | 1846 |
| Deactivated | 2012 |
| Construction | masonry tower |
| Tower shape | cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern |
| Markings / pattern | white tower, black lantern |
| Height | 36 metres (118 ft) |
| Focal height | 49 metres (161 ft) |
| Light source | mains power |
| Range | 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl WR 20s. |
| Admiralty number | A3414 |
| NGA number | 2860 |
| ARLHS number | SCO-053 |
| Managing agent | Covesea Lighthouse Community Company |
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Listed Building – Category A
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| Designated | 26 January 1971 |
| Reference no. | LB37605 |
Covesea Skerries Lighthouse, belonging to the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB), is built on top of a small headland on the south coast of the Moray Firth at Covesea, near Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland.
Following a storm in the Moray Firth in November 1826 when 16 vessels were sunk, applications were made for lighthouses at Tarbat Ness, on the opposite coast, and at Covesea Skerries. The Commissioners of Northern Light Houses (the precursor of the NLB) and Trinity House felt that a lighthouse at Covesea was unnecessary but this was against public opinion. Many letters and petitions were delivered to them. Eventually, the engineer and a committee of the Board surveyed the coastline and the Elder Brethren were asked to look for the best location. They recommended a lighthouse on the Craighead with a beacon on Halliman's Skerries, which the Commissioners agreed to. A grid iron tower was erected on the Halliman's Skerries in 1845, and in 1846, the Covesea Skerries Lighthouse was completed at a cost of £11,514 (equivalent to £1,005,562 as of 2015).
The surrounding walls, because of their height, caused vortices in the yard area in strong winds. This interfered with lightkeepers lookout so the walls were lowered in 1907.
In 1984, the lighthouse was automated being remotely monitored and controlled at the Northern Lighthouse Board's offices in Edinburgh, but originally, the lens was rotated by a clockwork mechanism with gradually descending weights providing the energy. The original lens is on display at the Lossiemouth Fisheries and Community Museum.
The light was extinguished on 2 March 2012 in effect replaced "by a North Cardinal navigational lit buoy fitted with X Band Radar Beacon at the north eastern extremity of the Halliman Skerries on 21 February 2012."
The lighthouse was designed and built by Alan Stevenson, a member of the Stevenson lighthouse engineering dynasty and uncle of the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson.
Following the discontinuation of the light on 2 March 2012 the Board no longer required the site at Covesea and plans were put in place to sell the Category A Listed property. In July 2012 the Northern Lighthouse Board received notification from The Scottish Government that the Covesea Lighthouse Community Company Limited had registered an interest in the Covesea Skerries property under the terms contained in Part 2 of The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The Covesea Lighthouse Community Company was formed by the local business association in Lossiemouth to develop the lighthouse site for tourism.
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