L IS FOR LIGHTHOUSE
When it comes to Scottish engineering and lighthouses, the name "Stevenson" is usually synonymous. The pioneering work of Robert Stevenson, and the two generations of Stevensons who followed him, was hugely influential across the world and has undoubtedly saved countless sailors from a watery grave.
But there's another name to conjure with when it comes to the legacy of Scottish lighthouse engineers - and the industrial heritage of Estonia's coastline.
Alexander Gordon was born in 1802 in New York, where his father David Gordon (the inventor of the compressed gas cylinder) was working at the time. His family returned to Scotland when Alexander was 5 years old, and he grew up in Deeside. He studied at Edinburgh University and became a civil engineer, working with some of the greatest names in engineering, such as Thomas Telford and Robert Napier. Gordon dedicated his career to developing a system of cast iron lighthouse construction, which was widely adopted around the world, particularly in the Colonies.
Many of the lighthouses built to Gordon's design are still in operation, and there are several in Estonia, such as the Takhuna lighthouse on the northern tip of the island of Hiiumaa, the Kihnu lighthouse, and the Saxby lighthouse on the island of Vormsi, the first to be built in Estonia using Gordon's system.