Eddystone Lighthouse, 1759
Year: 1759
Engineer: John Smeaton, mathematical instrument maker and civil engineer
After several wooden and metal lighthouses had been destroyed by storms, John Smeaton, an instrument maker and mathematician, was commissioned in 1756 to design a robust construction for the lighthouse. Smeaton suggested that the lighthouse be built of stone and shaped like the trunk of a tree, wider at the bottom, tapering towards the top.
Work on site began in 1756, starting with the foundation being hewn out of the reef and interlocked with the stone blocks. Construction work was interrupted in winter. During this time, the stonemasons prepared the stone blocks for the lighthouse on land. Granite from Cornwall was used for the blocks of the outermost stones. Blocks of limestone from Portland were used for the core of the tower. Each stone block weighed over a ton. In addition to the innovative construction technique with interlocking stone blocks, Smeaton was the first to use hydraulic lime (as a precursor to cement) to fill the joints between the stone blocks. Construction of the lighthouse lasted until 1759.
Smeaton's lighthouse was 18 m high and had a diameter of 7.9 m at the base and 5.2 m at the top. The lighting consisted of 24 large tallow candles.
In 1877 the tower had to be replaced as the rock underneath the lighthouse eroded away. The original lighthouse was dismantled and rebuilt at Plymouth.
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