Little Ross Island

Today's the day …………………… for a murder

This is a view of Little Ross, a 29-acre island with a lighthouse on the Solway Coast, south of the town of Kirkcudbright. 

The lighthouse was constructed in 1843 by Alan Stevenson at the mouth of Kirkcudbright Bay to close the gap between other lighthouses at the Mull of Galloway and Southerness.  In the 1900s, the island was home to the head lighthouse keeper, underkeeper and their families - a total of 16 people, whose food was provided by a small dairy and piggery on the island.

In August 1960 two relief lighthouse keepers were on duty during the holiday of the principal keeper. The secretary of the local RNLI arrived on the island with his son for lunch and a walk and discovered the body of one of the keepers, Hugh Clark. After a nationwide hunt the other relief keeper, Robert Dickson was arrested and found guilty of murder.  He was initially sentenced to hang but it was later changed to life imprisonment.

The lighthouse has been automated since 1961 …………………..