History of lighthouses with demands, and to the loss of a number of ships, most notably the Dutch merchant ship Vreede in 1800 with the loss of 380 lives. After the reforms of the Lighthouse Act 1836, owners still managed to collect large dues, of which the largest were for the Smalls Lighthouse which collected £23,000 in 1852 and Trinity House was forced to spend over £1m in buying back leases, including £444,000 for the Skerries Lighthouse. The modern era of lighthouses began at the turn of the 18th century, as lighthouse construction boomed in lockstep with burgeoning levels of transatlantic commerce. Advances
Lighthouses on the Isle of Arran rebuilt between 1821 and 1830. Pladda was one of Northern Lights' lighthouses where paraffin as a new fuel together with multiple wicks were tested successfully in 1870. This allowed substantial savings with a simultaneous increase in power between 10% and 100%. Fog signals were introduced in the 1870s as well. In 1901, the formerly fixed light was changed to a more powerful group-flashing which was Northern Light's plan for most Scottish lighthouses at the time. Pladda lighthouse operates fully automatic since 1990. Pladdas position is 55° 25.512'N, 005° 07.113'W. Its light flashes Fl.(3)30s40m23M. The Inner lighthouse on Holy Isle faces