What grade 1 listed building in Plymouth cost just £40,000 to build and has the best views that anyone could dream of. Smeaton’s Tower, the third Eddystone lighthouse might not exactly be going for a song today, but did inspired one.

'My father was the keeper o' the Eddystone light.
He married a mermaid one fine night.
Out of this union there came three:
A dolphin and a porgy and the third was me...'

Smeaton's Tower is the third and most significant Eddystone Lighthouse. It was built in such a way that it showed the way forward for future designers of lighthouses. In use until 1877 the upper part was taken down, transported and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe as a memorial to its designer and one of the greatest civil engineers, John Smeaton.
It was opened to the public by the Mayor of Plymouth on 24 September 1884. Visitors may climb the 93 steps, including steep ladders, to the lantern room and experience panoramic views of Plymouth Sound and the city of Plymouth.

Opening times:
Tuesday to Saturday and bank holiday Mondays, 10am to 12pm and 1pm to 3pm
Closed Sundays and Mondays
Last entries is 30 minutes before closing

Opening dates:
Tuesday 4 October to 3 December 2011
Saturday 10 and 17 December 2011
Saturday 7, 14, 21 and 28 January 2012
Tuesday 31 January to Saturday 31 March 2012

Please note: Smeaton’s Tower may be closed on certain days for civil ceremonies.

WINSTANLEY'S TOWER 1698 - 1703

The construction of lighthouses in such conditions as found at the Eddystone had never been attempted before and prior to the erection of Smeaton’s Tower a few lessons had to be learnt.
The first lighthouse built 13 miles out to sea bearing 211 degrees from Plymouth Breakater was a total disaster. Winstanley's lighthouse was the first to be designed and construction began in 1696 by Essex born Henry Winstanley of Littlebury a small village in the north-west the county.
In 1697 he was taken prisoner by a French privateer during the Nine Year’s War, but when Louis XIV was told of the incident he immediately ordered that Winstanley to be released saying that "France was at war with England not with humanity". This indicated how important an Eddystone Lighthouse would be to international shipping.

When work finished in 1698 the structure resembled a Chinese Pagoda and only lasted for one winter before having the top section removed and replaced in 1698. Winstanley's lighthouse stood for a few years until one stormy night in 1703. Sadly while conducting further repairs to the structure Winstanley and his men were lost at sea when the lighthouse collapsed during a violent storm.

RUDYERD’S TOWER 1709 – 1755

By 1706 the responsibility for providing lighthouses had been placed in the hands of the Master and Wardens of Trinity House who granted a 99 year lease to Captain Lovett who was allowed to charge shipping 1 penny per ton on both inwards and outward journeys.
He engaged a London silk merchant by the name of Mr John Rudyerd to design the new one and oversee its construction. No one had the required experience in those days to undergo such a task but unlike Winstanley he took a shipbuilders approach to the problem rather than that of a house builder.
With a design based on a cone instead of Winstanley's octagonal shape and with the assistance of two experienced shipwrights, Messrs Smith and Norcutt, he had a new lighthouse erected within two years.   It survived for forty-six years.
The wooden tower first lit up in 1709 and proved to be much more serviceable than its predecessor and at seemed to have solved the problem of having a permanently established lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock.
However, in the year 1755 the top of the lantern caught fire, possibly by a spark from one of the candles. The keeper on watch, Henry Hall who was 94 years both fit and active for his age, tried to put out the fire by throwing water upwards using a bucket. While looking up with his mouth open molten lead from the burning roof dripped down and ran down his throat. He and the other keeper battled bravely against the fire but they could do nothing as the fire was above them all the time - as it burnt downwards it eventually drove them out onto the rock. The fire was seen from the shore by a Mr. Edwards, `a man of some fortune and more humanity'. The old account says, he sent off a boat which arrived at the lighthouse at 10 o'clock in the morning after the fire had been burning for 8 hours. The sea was too rough for the boat to approach the rock so they threw ropes and dragged the keepers through the raging sea to their boat. The lighthouse continued to burn for 5 days and was totally destroyed.

The unfortunate lighthouse keeper Henry Hall lived for 12 days after the swallowing the red hot lead and a Doctor Spry of Plymouth who attended him made a post-mortem and discovered a flat oval piece of lead in his stomach which weighted 7ozs. Dr. Spry wrote an account of this case to the Royal Society but had trouble convincing the Fellows who were sceptical as to whether a man could survive in this condition for 12 days. An incensed Dr Spry decided that, for the sake of his reputation, he would conduct experiments on dogs and fowls by pouring molten lead down their throats to prove that they could live.

SMEATONS’S TOWER 1759 – 1882

There had been a lighthouse on Eddystone Rock for over half a century and sailors and ship-owners were obviously keen to see a replacement built at the earliest opportunity. Between the destruction of Rudyerd’s Tower and the building of its successor, Trinity House placed a light vessel to mark the position until a permanent light could be constructed.
In 1756 the third lighthouse was decided to be built by John Smeaton who is often referred to being the father of civil engineering. Smeaton born in Austhorpe, Leeds was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1753 and he was recommended by them to build the next lighthouse on Eddystone Rock.
This task given to him in Plymouth was later to capture the imagination of the world. He decided to construct a tower based on the shape of an English oak tree but unlike his predecessors he chose to use stone rather than wood.
For this assignment he needed the toughest labourers available which he found working in the tin mines of Cornwall. These men were each given the protection of the Admiralty by issuing each of them a metal badge in order to escape the Press Gangs scouring Plymouth and other towns at that time for forced labour to crew the navy’s ships.
For the building materials John Smeaton used the local granite but also needed to devise new forms of quick setting cement to be used underwater. Using a formula of heating calcining limestone, clay and other impurities to produce Hydraulic lime. He literally lay the foundations for man to be able to construct stone buildings underwater. He also devised a way, which is still used today, to make dovetail joints in stone.
He tackled all the problems thrown at him in building the 72ft structure and work started on the stones at a yard at Mill Bay on Monday December 13th 1756. On June 12th 1757 the first 2.25 ton foundation stone was laid followed by a further 1492 blocks of granite. Finally on 16th October 1759 the 24 candles were lit.
Smeaton’s Tower stood for 120 years saving countless lives in the process but due to cracks found in the rocks under its foundations it was dismantled and mostly rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe as a tribute to its builder. The bottom stump of Smeaton’s Tower proved too difficult to remove and can still be seen today near the existing lighthouse. A testament to this engineering genius is that his structure proved stronger than the rock on which it stood.