M024 Isle of May
Old Light
A plaque fixed near the start of the track to the door.
The text reads: "This is all that's left of Scotland's very first lighthouse, a coal-burning beacon built in 1636.
Originally it had three storeys, and when the new Main Light was built it blocked the light for ships to the north.
The plan was to demolish it completely, but when Sir Walter Scott visited the May he suggested
it should be left as a
picturesque ruin.
"One corner of the wall has been worn away. The coal bucket must have often crashed into the wall here
as the light
keepers hauled up the ton of fuel the old beacon could burn in a night."