The first Eddystone lighthouse was designed by Henry Winstanley; work began in 1696. In 1703, a huge storm utterly destroyed the lighthouse. Winstanley was inside it at the time supervising repairs. He and the keepers were swept away, never to be seen again.

The second light, designed by John Rudyerd, was a conical structure of wood surrounding a brick and concrete core. It was first lit in 1706 and stood for 49 years. Its end came through fire, probably begun by a spark from the lantern. The three keepers were rescued, but one of them later died from lead poisoning – he had swallowed molten lead from the burning roof.

It was John Smeaton, trained as a maker of mathematical instruments, whose work on the third Eddystone lighthouse was to prove so influential to future engineers. He was determined to build the structure to be as strong and fireproof as possible, so his chosen material was blocks of granite, fixed with dovetail joints and marble dowels. Smeaton also pioneered the use of hydraulic lime, a concrete that set under water. Work started in 1756.

While building was going on, Smeaton and the workmen lived on a fishing boat anchored near the rocks so as not to waste time going to and fro to the shore. Sometimes rough weather would keep them on the boat for days at a time unable to work, and provisions would run short. One November a hurricane-force storm arose. Smeaton ran up on deck in his nightshirt and helped the seamen bring the boat round and out to sea, away from the danger of being dashed on the rocks. The storm lasted for four days, and when at last they returned to Plymouth, they found that they had been given up for dead.

Smeaton’s light was first lit in 1759, and the lighthouse remained in use until 1877. A new lighthouse was begun in 1879, not because Smeaton’s work was failing, but because the rock on which it stood, eroded by the ceaseless beating of the waves, caused the lighthouse to shake. It was decided to dismantle the lighthouse and rebuild it on Plymouth Hoe, where it stands to this day as a memorial to John Smeaton. The foundations and base of the tower were too strong to move, so they still remain as another memorial close to the fourth (present) lighthouse.

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