The interwoven threads of an Angus town’s maritime history were pulled tightly together at the weekend.
Guests attended the ceremonial launch of a tartan commemorating the Bell Rock lighthouse and its 200 years of keeping watch over Arbroath.
The launch was timed to coincide with the culmination of Tartan Day festivities in Angus and around the world.
Designed by Steven Patrick Sim of The Tartan Artisan, the Bell Rock lighthouse tartan made its first official appearance at the Signal Tower Museum.
“I was inspired to design a tartan for the Bell Rock lighthouse by the year of the light, the series of special events that took place in Arbroath in 2011 to celebrate the lighthouse’s bicentenary,” said Mr Sim.
“I wanted to devise a tartan that reflected the lighthouse’s flashing beam of light, a feat which was achieved through careful positioning of the white and grey lines running through the tartan,” he said.
“The muted dark blue and black shades are for the treacherous North Sea at night while the solid black commemorates the thousands of seafarers who lost their lives on the Inchcape Reef’s deadly rocks before the Bell Rock lighthouse was built, as well as the men who lost their lives during the construction of the lighthouse.
“In addition, there are 90 threads between the black and the white, representing the 90 courses of granite blocks that make up the lighthouse tower.”
Once the design process was complete, Mr Sim approached custodians the Northern Lighthouse Board for their seal of approval.
Chief executive Roger Lockwood said: “This striking tartan commemorates the oldest continuously operating rock lighthouse in the world which, over 200 years since it was built, is still doing its job perfectly, warning passing shipping of the dangers of the Inchcape Reef.”
The tartan’s launch was also attended by guests, including the Earl of Southesk and a Bell Rock lighthouse expert David Taylor, whose great-great-great grandfather played a key part in its construction.
Guests enjoyed the first performance of The Bell Rock Light, a song composed by Ian Lamb and sung by Alan Mowatt, accompanied by Mr Lamb.
Arbroath businessman Harry Simpson, who chaired the year of the light committee, was one of the guests at the launch.
He said: “I am incredibly proud to be looking out to the Bell Rock lighthouse wearing my new Bell Rock lighthouse kilt.”