Henry Winstanley designed the first Eddystone Lighthouse on his own initiative, after two of his ships were wrecked on the reef and he was told by the Admiralty that it was too dangerous to mark. Construction began in July 1696; in June of the following year, a French privateer destroyed the work done so far on the foundations and carried Winstanley off to France. Louis XIV, however, ordered his immediate release, saying: "France is at war with England, not with humanity". Winstanley returned to the Eddystone reef, construction resumed, and the first Eddystone Lighthouse was completed in November 1698.
The lighthouse suffered some weather damage during the winter of 1698–9, and the light was often obscured by spray breaking over the top of the tower. Winstanley therefore had it rebuilt the following spring on a larger scale, with extra stonework and even more elaborate decoration. Both lighthouses fulfilled their function; during the five years of their operation, no ships were wrecked on the Eddystone.
Winstanley had said that he wished he might be inside the lighthouse during "the greatest storm there ever was", and in November 1703 he got his wish when the south of England was hit by one of the most severe storms in its history. Winstanley's confidence was proved to be misplaced however; the lighthouse's tower was entirely destroyed, and its designer, who was visiting at the time to make repairs, lost his life.
The replacement for Winstanley's Eddystone lighthouse was designed by John Rudyard (or Rudyerd), a silk merchant and property developer who had a shop on Ludgate Hill in London. This design lasted for almost fifty years, before burning down after the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light.
This time the task of rebuilding the lighthouse fell to John Smeaton, a mathematical instrument maker and aspiring civil engineer, with Josias Jessop as his assistant. Smeaton's design used dovetailed granite blocks for strength, and a type of concrete that cured under water. Work began on the reef in August 1756, and the lamp was lit for the first time on 16 October 1759.
In 1807 ownership and management of the lighthouse devolved to Trinity House, as the 100–year lease expired. A major renovation was carried out in 1841, and in 1877 it was resolved to build a replacement lighthouse. The upper part of Smeaton's tower was dismantled and erected on a replica granite frustum on Plymouth Hoe, "as a monument to Smeaton's genius, and in commemoration of one of the most successful, useful and instructive works ever accomplished in civil engineering".
A replica of Smeaton's lighthouse, known as Hoad Monument, was erected in 1850 above the town of Ulverston in Cumbria, as a memorial to the naval administrator Sir John Barrow. It remains in place to this day, as does Smeaton's original tower on Plymouth Hoe.
Smeaton's original frustum remains in place on the Eddystone Rocks, alongside the fourth lighthouse. This was designed by James Douglass – already an experienced lighthouse builder – using Smeaton's techniques, as developed by Robert Stevenson. The last stone was laid on 1 June 1881, and the light was first lit on 18 May 1882. Various improvements have been made since, including electrification in 1959. The tower is 49 metres (161 ft) high, has a helipad on top, and its white light flashes twice every ten seconds. The light is visible to 22 nautical miles (41 km), and is supplemented by three foghorn blasts every 62 seconds.
© Haydn Thompson 2021