A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



this beacon cannot have been very visible, for in 1856 a man-of-war reported it to have dis- 

 appeared although it proved to be still in place. The lighthouse, close to the beacon, designed 

 by Sir J. N. Douglass, occupied seven years (1862-9) m construction, but the difficulty of the task 

 may be realized from the fact that only thirty-eight hours' work could be done upon the rock 

 during the first year. A lighthouse on Trevose Head was under consideration in 1809, 1813, and 

 1832, but was not lit until i December, 1847. Godrevy, intended to mark the dangerous 

 Stones Rocks, took the form at first of a lightship between 20 March, 1858, and i March, 1859, 

 when the lighthouse was completed. The lighthouse on Round Island (Scillies) was established 

 in iSSj. 1 



The minor Cornish lights are : Penzance Pier, first shown 16 November, 1816 ; St. Anthony, 

 Falmouth, 20 April, 1835 ; Falmouth Breakwater, 1860 ; Fowey (White House Point), 1875 ; 2 

 Padstow, 1868 ; 3 St. Ives Pier, 1777, New Pier, 1894 ; St. Mary's (Pier), Scillies, 1898 ; Mouse- 

 hole Pier, 1896; Newlyn South Pier, 1887, North Pier, 1898; Porthleven Pier, 1883; Porth- 

 mellin (West) Pier, 1895 ; Polperro (West) Pier, 1897 ; Looe Pier, 1899 ; Mevagissey Breakwater, 

 1889 ; Hayle, 1840 ; and Pendeen, 1900. 



Closely related to the story of coast lighting is that of beaconage, buoys, and sea-marks, but the 

 early history is obscure. Appointments as ' beaconers ' were in the gift of the Lord Admiral, and, 

 as tolls of some value were attached to the posts, the beaconage of ports, rivers, and coasts was, in 

 early times, usually leased either as a favour or under payment of rent. Ralph Cleyton was granted 

 the privilege of beaconage between Dartmouth and Falmouth by patent of 19 October, 1567.* On 

 25 April, 1586, the Lord Admiral Howard directed a patent to be renewed in favour of David 

 Morgan for the beaconage of Falmouth, Plymouth, and Dartmouth. 6 In 1587 the right to place 

 beacons and buoys on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall was granted to Patrick Bleares, Howard's 

 chaplain ; but in 1594 the Trinity House obtained the Lord Admiral's prerogative in these matters. 

 For a long time, however, the rights of the Trinity House were shadowy and not unquestioned. 

 In 1619 we find Sir Francis Godolphin obtaining sentence from the Admiralty Court in his favour, 

 and against the Lord Admiral, on his claim to beaconage and buoyage in Falmouth and Helford 

 under his lease from the bishop of Exeter. To this suit the Trinity House was not a party, and it 

 is not clear what were the bishop's rights and powers in the matter of beaconage. Probably a mark 

 existed on the Black Rock at Falmouth in very early times, but the first Cornish sea-mark of which 

 the exact date is known is the tower on St. Martin's Island, built by Thomas Ekins in i683. 6 

 When Heath wrote in 1750, there was a beacon on the Black Rock, and as he tells us that ships 

 were charged a shilling for it by an Act of Charles II it may be presumed to be of that reign, but 

 there is some reason to suppose that the toll was originally levied by Truro and goes back to a far-off 

 antiquity. 7 There was a beacon on the Dodman during part of the eighteenth century. 



During the reign of Charles I the maintenance of the coast fortifications had been generally 

 neglected. Pendennis had some serviceable armament, which the governor employed in firing at 

 English men-of-war if they failed to salute the castle when entering or leaving the haven ; 8 but at 

 St. Mawes the captain, Sir Robert Le Grys, had burnt the gun carriages for firewood. 9 As well as 

 neglect the common evil of dishonesty was at work ; in 1636 the Council ordered a reward to be 

 paid to a man who had traced 130 tons of ordnance as having been clandestinely removed from 

 various forts. In the Scillies the fortification on Tresco, built by Edward VI, was disused ; the 

 castle at St. Mary's was incapable of defence in 1637, and although since 1628 there had been a 

 garrison of 125 men, they lived anywhere in the island, because Star Castle could not accommodate 

 twenty of them. 10 As the political situation became more strained some attention was given to 

 repairing and re-arming the forts, but as Cornwall was mainly royalist the gentlemen of the county 

 took care that there should be no danger of surprise. All the more considerable English ports, the 

 worst sufferers by Charles's naval maladministration, stood for the Parliament, and even in Cornwall 

 the coast towns were mostly neutral, if not rebellious, while Penryn and St. Ives were definitely on 

 the side of the Parliament. In 1644 the county became the scene of a disastrous reverse, in the 

 surrender of Essex's army at Fowey on 2 September, plainly due to the insufficiency of force at the 

 disposal of the Parliamentary admiral. Essex, outnumbered and driven back to the coast by the 



1 Geographically the Eddystone belongs to Cornwall, but as it has always been built and worked from 

 Plymouth it is dealt with in the ' Maritime History of Devonshire.' 



* For many years the Fowey people troubled the Trinity House in vain. They complained in 1 86 1 

 that the corporation of Lostwithiel received dues 'but does nothing else' (Par!. Papers (1861), xxv, 636). 



3 Preceded by a beacon half a mile west of Stepper Point placed by local subscription. 



4 Admir. Ct. Inq. i. 5 Ibid. v. 6 Borlase, Observations, p. 54. 



7 See App. B for the list of the Cornish buoys and beacons. 



8 S. P. Dom. Chas. I, cci, 59 ; cciii, 71. 9 Ibid, cclxxiii, 1 6. 



10 Ibid, cclxviii, no. This report says that there were not more than thirty inhabitants capable of 

 bearing arms. 



500 



