Holiday homes plan for lighthouse murder island near Kirkcudbright

Plans have been lodged to allow visitors to stay on a tiny Scottish island that was the scene of a lighthouse keeper’s murder in 1960.

The proposals would bring derelict cottages back into use on Little Ross Island which sits off Kirkcudbright.

It hit the headlines 63 years ago when Hugh Clark was shot by fellow keeper Robert Dickson.

The island was put up for sale with an asking price of £325,000 more than five years ago.

The lighthouse tower on Little Ross was designed and built by Alan Stevenson and first lit in 1843.

It was put at the mouth of Kirkcudbright Bay to close the gap between other lighthouses at the Mull of Galloway and Southerness.

It was manned until 1960, the year of the infamous killing.

Mr Clark was found dead and his assistant was later tried and found guilty of his murder.

The victim was discovered by a father and son from Kirkcudbright on a boat trip to the island.

There is already a six-bedroom B-listed cottage on the island but the new plans would see the conversion of dilapidated buildings nearby.

The proposals are to repair a row of three traditional single-storey cottages and turn them into holiday lets.

The structures would be reroofed and windows and doors put in along with a septic tank.

It would then allow visitors to stay on the island which sits just off the Dumfries and Galloway coastline.