SCOTLAND HISTORY

The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB), also known as the Commissioners of Northern Lights, is the organisation responsible for marine navigation aids around the coastal areas of Scotland and the Isle of Man.

The NLB was formed in 1786 by Act of Parliament to oversee the construction and operation of four Scottish lighthouses (Kinnaird Head, North Ronaldsay, Scalpay and Mull of Kintyre).

What is often not known about Scottish lighthouses and their engineering is the contempt and negative outcries which came from the public. Shipwrecks were often relied upon as a source of wood and other materials, especially in the northern regions. Lighthouses were therefore a threat to the livelihood of many Scots.

Suggested Reading: The Lighthouse Stevenson's by Bella Bathurst

Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall (Latin: Vallum Hadriani) was a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of Great Britain to prevent military raids by the tribes of Scotland to the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, to define the frontier of the Empire physically, and to separate the unruly Selgovae tribe in the north from the Brigantes in the south and discourage them from uniting. The name is also sometimes used jocularly as a synonym for the border between Scotland and England, although for most of its length the wall follows a line well south of the modern border - and neither the Scoti tribe nor the English lived in Britain at the time of the wall's construction.

Suggested Reading: Hadrian's Wall AD 122-410 by Nic Fields