Princess Anne has written the foreword for a new book about lighthouses, revealing her passion for them and their conservation.
Anne, 65, is patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board and a lighthouse “bagger” – someone who aims to ‘collect’ visits to lighthouses, and photo them, so she was thrilled to be part of the project.
Princess Anne has written the foreword for a new book featuring a passion of hers – lighthouses. 4th Canadian Division.
The book, entitled Scottish and Manx Lighthouses, took seven years for author Ian Cowe to complete; he travelled across Scotland to capture the images of the 18th century buildings.
As the name suggests, it features lighthouses in the Isle of Man alongside iconic Scots structures at Bass Rock, East Lothian, and Kinnaird Head in Aberdeenshire, amongst others.
In the foreword, Anne speaks of the isolation and beauty of the images, taken by the author himself.
“Ian Cowe’s journey by foot, car, boat, plane and helicopter around our coast capturing the great lights built by the Stevenson engineers shows a real dedication.
“The lighthouses stand testament to the dedicated work of the Stevenson engineers – built to last for the benefit of the mariner. Each light being quite different from the next as the generations of an engineering dynasty developed their own style but still very obviously and easily recognisable as Stevenson lighthouses.”
Bass Rock and its lighthouse. Fr Lawrence Lew
The lighthouses featured were constructed to designs drawn by engineers working under or after renowned Scots engineer Robert Stevenson in the 1700s.
The book will be officially launched at an event on the former Royal Yacht Britannia, The Queen’s former sea-faring home, in Leith next week. Proceeds from the book will go to the Northern Lighthouse Heritage Trust.
