About Eddystone Lighthouse

There have been four lighthouses at Eddystone. The first lighthouse was an octagonal wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley; construction started in 1696 and the light was lit on 14 November 1698. Winstanley's tower lasted until 1703 when a storm erased almost all trace of it. Winstanley was on the lighthouse at the time, completing additions to the structure, and did not survive.

John Rudyard was commissioned to design a replacement by a Captain Lovett who had acquired the lease of the rock He was allowed by Act of Parliament to charge passing ships a toll of 1d per ton. The lighthouse was built as a conical wooden structure around a core of brick and concrete and was first lit in 1709. This proved more durable, surviving nearly fifty years. But on the night of December 2 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light. The three keepers threw water upwards from a bucket but were driven on to the rock as the tower burnt down and rescued by boat.

Smeaton's Tower - the third and most iconic Eddystone Lighthouse - marked a major step forward in the design of lighthouses. Civil engineer John Smeaton modeled the shape of the lighthouse on that of an oak tree. He pioneered the use of "hydraulic lime," a form of concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks together using dovetail joints and marble dowels. Construction started in 1756 and the light was first lit in 1759. It remained in use until 1877 when it was dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, in the city of Plymouth, as a memorial to Smeaton.

The current, fourth, lighthouse was designed by James Douglass (see entry for Souter Lighthouse) using Robert Stevenson's developments of Smeaton's techniques. The light was lit in 1882 and is still in use. It is operated by Trinity House. It was automated in 1982 and was the first Trinity House lighthouse to be converted. The tower has been changed by construction of a helipad above the lantern, to allow maintenance crews access.

The location is 14km (9 miles) south west of Rame Head - the latter is in Cornwall, whereas the rocks on which the lighthouse stands, are in Devon.