Wandering around Plymouth on a cold, grey November day, I headed to the Hoe and found I had it almost entirely to myself.
The most striking landmark is the eminently postcard-able Smeaton’s Tower.
It looks so at home in its current setting, and it’s a surprise to learn that it wasn’t originally erected there at all. The lighthouse was first built out on Eddystone Rocks, a treacherous cluster of low rocks thirteen miles southwest of Plymouth. The first lighthouse to perch in that precarious location was obliterated by a great storm, and the second burnt down. Smeaton’s lighthouse was the third, and stood from 1756 to 1877. Then it was noticed that the rocky base was very badly eroded, and that the lighthouse was wobbling each time a wave hit…
The upper part of the lighthouse was moved brick by brick to the Hoe and rebuilt as a memorial to Smeaton. Now, instead of a warning beacon to keep people away, it’s an attraction, drawing tourists to the Hoe.
Not every lighthouse gets to move somewhere quiet and safe when it retires…
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