Nautical Lighthouses

Be that as it may, John Smeaton’s Tower can be used as a starting point and originally it was built on the Eddystone Reef 14 miles off Plymouth in 1756-9. It was erected to replace the lighthouses of Winstanley and Rudyerd with the formers being blown away in a storm with its builder inside while the latters caught fire and burned down. When the fourth (some will say fifth as Winstanley enlarged the height and diameter of his lighthouse in 1699 so it could be said he built two) Eddystone lighthouse was built by James Douglass in 1878-82, it was decided to take down its forerunner stone by stone and re-erect it on a new base on Plymouth Hoe. Obviously this was at great expense to the residents of Plymouth and for what purpose other than as something of a memorial to John Smeaton? Now, more than a retired lighthouse, Smeaton’s Tower is something of a museum as well as being more akin to a belvedere from which to watch over the sham ruin of Mount Edgecumbe across Plymouth Sound and to keep an eye on the current Eddystone lighthouse, clearly visible in good weather. Many said Smeaton was mad to attempt construction in such an inhospitable location and then for others to dismantle and re-erect his lighthouse for no functional purpose was likewise judged folly in the view of some. Hence this incorporates at least some of the requirements of the building descriptor, folly.

It is unusual for a building to be re-sited as was the case with Smeaton’s Tower but not unheard of in connection with lighthouses. It was only in 1999 that Beachy Head’s Belle Tout lighthouse was moved 70 feet back from the cliff edge to prevent it from falling into the sea. Meanwhile, the loss of an original use is a more frequent occurrence. If the 99 feet tall Burnham High lighthouse is so considered, then having been built in 1832 as a replacement for the Reverend David Davies 1801 lighthouse which was half a mile to the south of that extant, it has subsequently lost its function to guide ships into the River Parrett en route for Bridgwater. Since its sale in 1994 it has been in residential use. This makes it an eccentric place in which to live and it is an object of curiosity, attracting a steady flow of interested eyes. The trouble with admitting this example as a folly would mean classifying every ex Trinity House or Northern Lights lighthouse that finds a new use when made redundant, as a folly too. Another specific example would be Portland’s Old Higher lighthouse which was put to use as a B & B but this ignores the ‘useless’ element of folly classification. Therefore, nothing looked at so far seems to have enough to be considered a true folly unless some other element can be found.

Others that are now residences are the Guys Head lighthouses. For a number of years the East one was home to the naturalist, Peter Scott. It and its twin on the West bank of the River Nene were built 1829-34 by Sir John Rennie with their appearances being more like tower mills than lighthouses and in fact, their lamps have never been lit to warn sailors. However nature (with a little help from man) has contrived to push them even further away from their intended purpose as gradually the Wash has been reclaimed with the Lincolnshire coast being further to the north east than it once was. In such an instance the 62 feet high Guys Head lighthouses possibly have a strong claim to being accepted as follies, separated from the sea as they are by many a field of oil seed rape. In this case the fact that use has been made of them residentially, seems somewhat irrelevant when considering follyhood.

Across the North Sea another lighthouse but of square pyramid construction with a height of 23 metres, has suffered at the hands of nature. This is at Rubjerg Knude in North Jutland where the dunes have so amassed themselves to separate the lighthouse from the sea and cancel out the value of switching on its light as an aid to shipping. It was decommissioned in 1968 and being a lighthouse with no sea to shine on, it could be said to have a strong claim to the noun folly, even though it did find a subsequent purpose, that of the sandflugtmuseum (shifting sands museum).

To a lesser extent Lundy’s Old lighthouse is afflicted by the elements but more so through the folly of the men involved in its construction. The tower is 97 feet high and at 470 feet above sea level it is the highest in Britain. The problem with this was that its light was often obscured from shipping by fog or cloud with the consequence that the warnings were more often given out by cannon fire. So lower North and South lights were built on Lundy in 1897 to replace the ‘folly’ lighthouse designed by Daniel Asher Alexander (also responsible for Dartmoor prison) and built by John Nelson in 1819. As such, the 1819 building was a lighthouse which was of use to warn shipping only in good weather; a more obvious example of an oxymoron or a better description of a folly would be hard to find.

In a similar vein, the Salt Cellar above Blackgang on the Isle of Wight was found to be unsuited to purpose. This proposed lighthouse remains unfinished as Trinity House realised its light would be shrouded in mist so building ceased in 1785.

Although on the river Colne waterfront at Brightlingsea, Trinity House is again said to have decided that Bateman’s Folly was in the wrong place for a lighthouse. Hence, stripped of the purpose for which John Bateman is purported to have erected his 25 feet high tower in 1883, the building has floundered in its attempt to justify its existence so it is more folly than lighthouse. Had it found employment as a lighthouse, it would have had much in common with that at Teignmouth mentioned later.