Eddystone Lighthouse - Rudyard's Lighthouse

Rudyard's Lighthouse

Following the destruction of the first lighthouse, a Captain Lovett acquired the lease of the rock, and by Act of Parliament was allowed to charge passing ships a toll of one penny per ton. He commissioned John Rudyard (or Rudyerd) to design the new lighthouse, built as a conical wooden structure around a core of brick and concrete. A temporary light was first shown from it in 1708 and the work was completed in 1709. This proved more durable, surviving nearly fifty years.

On the night of 2 December 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light. The three keepers threw water upwards from a bucket but were driven onto the rock and were rescued by boat as the tower burnt down. Henry Hall, who was 94 at the time, died from lead poisoning because of the molten lead from the lantern roof he had ingested fighting the fire. A report on this case of lead poisoning was submitted to the Royal Society by the physician Dr. Edmund Spry, and the piece of lead is now in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland.