Arbroath's Signal Tower Museum has closed for a £425,000 refurbishment.

The work will include the creation of new displays, focussing on Arbroath’s maritime heritage, particularly the link with the Bell Rock Lighthouse which celebrates its bicentenary next year.

The Signal Tower, by Arbroath Harbour, was built as the shore base for the lighthouse. It was home for lighthouse keepers’ families and for the keepers themselves while on shore leave. The building’s name derives from its other role as a signalling station, passing messages between the lighthouse and the mainland. The site has been a local authority museum since 1974.

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The lighthouse, built between 1807 and 1811, to a design by Robert Stevenson, still fulfils its original purpose of alerting mariners to the location of the dangerous Inchcape Reef, or Bell Rock, 11 miles off-shore from Arbroath. The structure is the oldest existing rock lighthouse in the British Isles. Operated by the Northern Lighthouse Board, it has been automated since 1988.

(GK)