Plymouth Breakwater

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Coordinates: 50°20′2.98″N 4°8′55.18″W / 50.3341611°N 4.1486611°W / 50.3341611; -4.1486611
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50°20′2.98″N 4°8′55.18″W / 50.3341611°N 4.1486611°W / 50.3341611; -4.1486611

Plymouth Breakwater Lighthouse
Map
LocationPlymouth Breakwater, City of Plymouth, United Kingdom Edit this at Wikidata
Coordinates50°20′05″N 4°09′32″W / 50.3346°N 4.1588°W / 50.3346; -4.1588
Tower
Constructed1841; 183 years ago (1841)
ConstructionStone Tower
Height23 m (75 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
ShapeCylindrical tower with balcony and lantern[1]
MarkingsWhite tower and lantern
OperatorMinistry of Defence (1993–), Trinity House (–1993) Edit this on Wikidata
Fog signalBlast every 15s.
Light
First lit1844; 180 years ago (1844)
Focal height19 m (62 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Lens2nd order fixed catadioptric
Range12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) (white), 9 nmi (17 km; 10 mi) (red) Edit this on Wikidata
CharacteristicFl WR 10s.
Iso W 4s. at 12 metres (39 ft)

Plymouth Breakwater is a 1,560-metre (1,710 yd) stone breakwater protecting Plymouth Sound and the anchorages near Plymouth, Devon, England. It is 13 metres (43 ft) wide at the top and the base is 65 metres (213 ft). It lies in about 10 metres (33 ft) of water. Around 4 million tons of rock were used in its construction in 1812 at the then-colossal cost of £1.5 million (equivalent to £106 million today).

History

In 1806, as the

John Rennie and Joseph Whidbey to plan a means of making Plymouth Bay a safe anchorage for the Channel Fleet. These plans may have been taken from ones made by George Matcham (1753 – 3 February 1833).[2] In 1811 came the order to begin construction; Whidbey was appointed Acting Superintending Engineer. This task required great engineering, organizational and political skills, as the many strictly technical challenges were complicated by the significant resources devoted to the project, from which various parties evidenced a desire for advantage. Nearly 4,000,000 (four million) tons of stone were quarried and transported, using about a dozen ships innovatively designed by the two engineers. A paper to the Royal Society suggests that Whidbey found many fossils as a result of the quarrying necessary to the breakwater.[3]

The foundation stone was laid on Shovel Rock on 8 August 1812. It followed a line over Panther Rock, Shovel and St. Carlos Rocks, and was sufficiently completed by 1814 to shelter ships of the line. Napoleon was reported as commenting that the breakwater was a grand thing, as he passed by it on the way to exile on St. Helena in 1815. Severe storm damage in 1817 and 1824 prompted a change in the profile and height. John Rennie died in 1821; his last work in connection with the breakwater was to draw up proposals for a lighthouse.

Sir John
.

Plymouth Breakwater Lighthouse

Plymouth Breakwater Lighthouse stands on the western tip of the breakwater. Designed for the Admiralty by Walker & Burgess, construction of the granite tower began on 22 February 1841 and was completed on 9 November 1843; William Stuart was superintendent of the works.[5] The light became operational in June 1844; soon afterwards a horse-drawn omnibus was driven along the breakwater from end to end, with a full complement of passengers accompanied by a military band.[6] On completion, management of the light was transferred to Trinity House.[5]

A beacon was placed at the eastern end of the breakwater, consisting of a 6-foot (1.8 m) spherical cage on a 17-foot (5.2 m) pole; the cage was designed as a refuge for six shipwrecked sailors.[7]

The lighthouse had been provided with a

dioptric lens.[5]

By 1867 a 7 cwt bell had been installed at the lighthouse to serve as a fog signal. In 1879 a larger (32 cwt) bell was installed, and the old bell was transferred to

occulting (being eclipsed for three seconds every half minute).[11]

In 1920 the lighthouse was converted to run automatically on acetylene gas. Following departure of the resident keepers, the light was monitored from the Trinity House fog signal station at nearby Penlee Point.

Oversight of the lighthouse was passed from Trinity House to the Ministry of Defence in 1993. The bell remained in use until 1994, when it was replaced by an electronic fog horn. The main light currently flashes once every ten seconds, white with a red sector to the north-east; the subsidiary white light has an

isophase characteristic, two seconds on, two seconds off.[12]

Plymouth Breakwater Fort

Plymouth Breakwater Fort from inside the Sound

In 1860, a

10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns in armoured casemates. Although the fort had been disarmed before World War I, it served as a signal station, and from 1937, an anti-aircraft training school. It was finally released by the military
in 1976.

Gallery

  • Plymouth breakwater from Wembury
    Plymouth breakwater from Wembury
  • Plymouth breakwater from Kingsand showing the 1844 lighthouse and the Breakwater Fort beyond
    Plymouth breakwater from Kingsand showing the 1844 lighthouse and the Breakwater Fort beyond
  • Plymouth breakwater, viewed from above Kingsand
    Plymouth breakwater, viewed from above Kingsand
  • Plymouth breakwater: the eastern beacon
    Plymouth breakwater: the eastern beacon

See also

References

  1. ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Southwest England (Devon and Cornwall)". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  2. ^ Lodge, Edmund (1840). Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage: With Sketches of the Family Histories of the Nobility. London: Saunders. p. 354. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  3. JSTOR 107609
    .
  4. ^ "Memoirs". Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. XIV: 140. 1855.
  5. ^ a b c d "Lighthouse management : the report of the Royal Commissioners on Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, 1861, examined and refuted Vol. 2". 1861. pp. 87–88.
  6. ^ Plymouth Times, 27 July 1844
  7. ^ Moseley, Brian (26 February 2013). "[Plymouth] Breakwater". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  8. ^ Elliot, George H. (1875). European Light-House Systems. London: Lockwood & co. pp. 137–139. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  9. ^ Edwards, E. Price (1884). Our Seamarks: a plain account of the Lighthouses, Lightships, Beacons, Buoys, and Fog-signals maintained on our Coasts. London: Longmans, Green & co. p. 184. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  10. ^ Renton, Alan (2001). Lost Sounds: The Story of Coast Fog Signals. Caithness, Scotland: Whittles.
  11. ^ London Gazette, Issue 24871, Page 4322, 6 August 1880
  12. ^ "Plymouth Sound and Approaches". GPS Nautical Charts. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  13. ^ "The Breakwater Fort, Plymouth - the Palmerston battery at the mouth of the Sound". BBC. Retrieved 22 October 2011.

External links

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