Eddystone Lighthouse
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An Aerial View of the Eddystone Lighthouse. (The remains of the old lighthouse can be seen in the background.) |
The
Eddystone Lighthouse is situated some 9 miles (15 km) South West of Rame Head
Cornwall,
England on the treacherous
Eddystone Rocks .
The current structure is the fourth lighthouse (some say it is the fifth–the first was considerably rebuilt after a major storm in its first winter; the challenge was met by four main designs).
The first was an octagonal wooden structure created by
Henry Winstanley and the light was first lit on
14 November 1698. It lasted five years before the
Great Storm of 1703 erased almost all trace of it on
27 November, killing Winstanley in the process.
The second lighthouse was designed by
John Rudyard (or Rudyerd) as a conical wooden structure and was first lit in
1709. It survived until
2 December 1755 when it was destroyed by fire. (See
Henry Hall for the full story.)
The third lighthouse, known as
Smeaton's Tower, was perhaps the most notable as it marked a major step forward in the design of such structures. Recommended to the task by the
Royal Society,
civil engineer John Smeaton pioneered the use of '
hydraulic lime' (a form of
concrete) and developed a technique involving dovetailed blocks of
granite in the building of the lighthouse (
1756-
1759).
While in use, the Eddystone tower was 59 ft 2 in (18.0 m) in height. Its diameter at the base is 25 ft 8 in (7.82 m) and the diameter at the top is 16 ft 8 in (5.08 m). Smeaton's lighthouse (the shape modelled on that of an
oak tree) remained in use until
1877 when it was discovered that the rocks upon which it stood were becoming eroded—each time a large wave hit the lighthouse it would shake from side to side. The lighthouse was dismantled and partially rebuilt at
Plymouth Hoe as a memorial; the Victorian builders could not dismantle the whole structure due to the strength of the dovetailing and hydraulic lime. The foundations remain on the Eddystone Rocks in near perfect condition except for the top portion which, being originally situated inside the lighthouse, lacked protection against salt water. They are close to the new (and more solid) foundations of the current lighthouse.
The current, fourth lighthouse was designed by
James Douglass, developing some techniques pioneered by
Robert Stevenson, and opened in
1882. The tower is 51m high.
The lighthouse inspired the
shanty that begins:'My father was the keeper o' the Eddystone light.:He slept with a
mermaid one fine night.:From this union there came three::A
porpoise and a
porgy and the other was me...'
The lighthouse may also have inspired the name of the popular music group
Edison Lighthouse, being a weak pun on
Eddystone, although the etymology of the group's name is uncertain.
*
Information on the Eddystone Lighthouse at Trinity House*
Captain L Edye - The Eddystone Lighthouse, 1887
