Who Built the Bell Rock Lighthouse?

Stevenson's challenge

Nearly 200 years after it was first built, the Bell Rock Lighthouse still stands - proudly flashing its warning light. Eleven miles out to sea off the east coast of Scotland, it is a remarkable sight - a white stone tower over 30m (100ft) high, rising seemingly without support out of the North Sea.

In fact, it is precariously poised on a treacherous sandstone reef, which, except at low tides, lies submerged just beneath the waves.

This incredible feat of engineering has not required a single repair to its stonework since the day it was completed in 1811. But controversy still surrounds the question of whom exactly we should credit for what many regard as the finest lighthouse ever built - and the most outstanding engineering achievement of the 19th century.

Over the centuries, before the lighthouse was built, Bell Rock had claimed thousands of lives, as vessels were wrecked on its razor-sharp serrated rocks. This terror of the seas was given its name after monks from local Arbroath tried to raise a warning bell on its craggy face. But nothing survived on the rock, which posed a fearsome obstacle to all shipping travelling along the east coast and to the Firth of Tay.

To build a permanent beacon that would warn ships to keep away from this rock was both a challenge and an obsession for Robert Stevenson. Brought up in a strong religious household, moral improvement and technological progress to him went hand in hand.

At the age of 30, Stevenson had done well for himself. Raised in poverty, his father died when he was young and he was largely self-taught. He became an engineer for the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1797, inspecting the few warning lights for seafarers that then existed along the Scottish coastline.

In the 1800s these were often no more than coal braziers, and the resulting spoil from wrecked ships was a lucrative business. Most of the coast was in darkness.

Stevenson was convinced he could improve on these primitive lights. It took a year to find anyone brave enough to risk taking him to Bell Rock, but when he finally surveyed the reef in the summer of 1800, he devised a plan for a substantial stone tower.

Rennie gets the job

The temporary Beacon House, in a severe storm  © Stevenson drew the inspiration for his lighthouse design from the Eddystone Lighthouse, off the coast of Cornwall.

Built 50 years earlier by John Smeaton, this was a milestone in lighthouse design. Shaped with the now classic wide base, tapering to a narrow tower (Smeaton had modelled it on an oak tree he had witnessed defying a storm), it was the only off-shore structure that had until then managed to survive for any length of time against the constant battering of the seas.

Stevenson elaborated on this design. His lighthouse would have to be higher, over 30m (100ft), if it was to survive the cruel waves of the North Sea. He also incorporated more efficient reflectors, using the latest oil lighting technology, which would make his beacon the brightest yet seen.

But the Northern Lighthouse Board rejected the plan outright; in their eyes Stevenson was attempting the impossible, and besides, it was going to cost the huge sum of £42,685 and 8 shillings.

The rock had to claim another victim before the Board revisited Stevenson's plans. In 1804 the huge 64-gun HMS York was ripped apart on the rock, with the loss of all 491 crew. The NLB could delay no longer. Britain's most eminent engineer, John Rennie, was invited to give his advice.

Rennie had never actually built a lighthouse, but the Board was so impressed by his record that he was given the job of chief engineer. Robert Stevenson was to work as his resident engineer.

History does not record Stevenson's reaction to the news, but it must have come as a bitter blow to this ambitious young man. What history does record is that the structure on Bell Rock came to be known not as Rennie's but as Stevenson's Lighthouse. So how did this come about, and who really deserves the credit for this remarkable achievement?

The work starts

Both Rennie and Stevenson were in agreement that the Eddystone Lighthouse should be their model. Stevenson was keen to make changes to suit the particular situation of Bell Rock, but Rennie argued that they should tread warily: after all, the Eddystone had stood for 50 years.

However, Rennie was adamant that they should deviate from Smeaton's design of the curve at the base of the structure. This had to deflect the terrifying force of the waves that the lighthouse could expect to encounter in the North Sea.

Stevenson copied the Eddystone design, but Rennie argued that this was not enough, and insisted on a more gradual 40-degree slope. Stevenson accepted this crucial alteration - without it the lighthouse might have collapsed in a violent storm.

With Rennie back at his practice in London, Stevenson set about recruiting men, organising ships and supplies, and sourcing Aberdeen granite for the tower's outer casing. On 17 August 1807, he and around 35 artificers set sail for the rock.

They could only work during the calm summer months, and even then their work was limited to around two hours each low tide. In between they waited, living on a ship moored just over a mile away - and all of them, with the exception of Stevenson, were almost constantly seasick.

Work was slow and laborious. They used simple pickaxes, which needed constant re-sharpening by a smithy, who often worked up to his knees in freezing water. Stevenson could not afford to use gunpowder for fear of damaging the rock itself. In time, the men built a temporary barracks on stilts above the rock.

It seems Rennie was quite content to leave the logistics and hardships of building to his resident engineer. In fact, he only made two visits to Bell Rock during the entire period of construction, from 1807 to 1810. In between, Stevenson bombarded him with questions on every aspect of construction. Some have taken this as a ploy to divert any further interference from Rennie, as we have little evidence to show that he ever listened to his chief engineer.

Should this apparent lack of interest be taken as a criticism of Rennie? Probably not. He recognised Stevenson as a capable engineer and saw little reason to intervene - and Rennie did step in firmly when he saw the design was lacking.

He made Stevenson increase the horizontal dovetailing on the one-ton stone blocks. These interlocked to form a giant's jigsaw, which did not require cement to make the tower solid and stable. We shall never know if the tower would still be standing today had Rennie not revised the plans.

Stevenson's Lighthouse

The Bell Rock lighthouse, nearing completion  © Progress was slow. After two years Stevenson had only completed three courses of stonework - the tower stood just six feet tall, with another 94 feet to go.

In the 290 pages of his book , Account of the Bell Rock Light-house, published in 1824, Stevenson provides us with a vivid account of the construction process of the tower, including detailed descriptions of the machinery and operations. He also tells the human story of terrible injuries, suffering and the deaths of two of the men.

But what he singularly omits, except for one brief mention, is any reference to Rennie. Even then he talks about Rennie as 'consulted' by the NLB, which rather falls short of his title as chief engineer in charge of the whole project.

It is this account, above all, which has so closely identified Stevenson as the creator of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Rennie would certainly have disapproved of it, but it was published in 1824, three years after his death.

In 1814, Rennie was already well aware that Stevenson was angling for full credit. He wrote to a friend:

In the event, the finished lighthouse does more closely resemble Stevenson's plan than Rennie's. However, many have been critical of Stevenson's failure to give credit not only to his chief engineer, but also to his foreman, Francis Watt, who both devised the essential lifting cranes and the temporary barracks to house the men.

But when the 24 great lanterns were lit for the first time on 1 February 1811, there was no question over who had actually built the lighthouse - even if it was not entirely clear who had designed it. It was Stevenson who had endured the daily rigours, back-breaking hardships and violent storms for over four years to complete the work.

On Robert Stevenson's death in 1850, at a statutory general meeting of the Board of Northern Lighthouses, the following minute was recorded:

The words were carefully chosen - not least because they were read out in front of Stevenson's three sons, now themselves lighthouse builders and part of the great Stevenson engineering dynasty.

Find out more

Books

The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathhurst (Harper Collins, 1999 )

Bright Lights: The Stevenson Engineers 1752-1971 by Jean Leslie and Roland Paxton (Roland Paxton, 1999)

Account of the Bell Rock Lighthouse by R Stevenson (1824)

Records of a Family of Engineers by RL Stevenson (Indypublish.com, 2002 - print on demand )

The World's Lighthouses Before 1820 by DA Stevenson (1959)

A Star for Seamen by Craig Mair (J Murray, 1978)

Scottish Lighthouses by RW Munro (Thule P, 1979)