CYCLOPEDIA: 



OR,. A NEVv' 



UNIVERSAL DICTIONy\RY 



OF 



ARTS and SCIENCES, 



LIGHT-HOUSE. 



LIGHT-HousE,. in the Mantle, is a building or watch- 

 ■ tower erefted upon the fea-(hore, to ferve as a landmark 

 to mariners in the night, to avoid any roclis or other dangers. 

 The hght-houfe is generjUy a high tower, having at the top 

 an apartment called the lantern, with windows on all fides, 

 to exhibit the light made within it by the flame of an open 

 fire, or by lamps or candles. Ii is frequently of fervice to 

 navigation, to creft lighr-lioufes upon infulated rocks rifing 

 from the fea, to warn {hips of their approach to fiicli rocks. 

 Of this kind are the Eddyftone rocks off Plymouth, and the 

 Bell rock at the mouth of the Forth in Scotland. In thefe 

 fituations, the heavy fwell of the fea, when agitated by a 

 ftonr, ftrikes with fuch force againll the building, as to 

 require every precaution to feciire them from being over- 

 thrown by the continued action of fo powerful an enemy. 

 The Eddyftone rocks being the molt celebrated, as well from 

 their peculiarly e.Kpofed fituation, as from the great inge- 

 nuity difplaycd in the conllruClion of the light-houfes 

 erected at different periods upon them, renders them deferv- 

 ing of particular defcriptioii. The hiftory of the different 

 ereilions has been already given under the head of Eddv- 

 STONE. We here iiitend defcribing the conftruftion of each, 

 whir.h will be a fummary of all the different kinds of light- 

 houfes of wood or ilone. 



Mr. Winllanley's light-houfe was begun upon the Ed- 

 dyftone rock in 1696, and was more than four years in 

 the eretlion, from the many interruptions of the wind, 

 which from fome quarters caufcs the fea to break over thcfe 

 rocks with fuch violence, as to prevent the poffibility of 

 landing upon them, though the lea around is very quiet. 

 This is occafioiied by the rocks being open to the fwell 

 from t!-;e Great Atlantic ocean, or from the Bay of Bifcay, 

 in all the fouth-wellern points of the compafs ; and is in- 

 creafed by the form and pofition of the rocks, which have 



Vol. XXI. 



a regular (lope to the fouth-weft from the deep fea to tlif 

 rock upon which the houfe is erefted, and which, therefore, 

 receives the uncontrouled fury of thefe feas, meeting no 

 otlier objea to break upon, and the'effeft of fo great an 

 extent of water, caufed by the hard S.W. winds, continue* 

 for many days, though fucceeded by a calm, and breaks 

 frightfully upon Eddyftone. When there is no wind, and 

 the furface of the fea appears fmooth, Mr. Winftanley's 

 light-houfe appears, from an engraved plate of it, publifhed 

 by himfelf, to have been a ftone tower with 12 fides, rifinx 

 44 feet above the higheft point of the rock, which is in- 

 clined fo as to be 10 feet lower on the oppofite fide of the 

 houfe. The tower was 24 feet in diameter. At the top were 

 a baluftrade and platform : upon this eight pillars were 

 erefted, and fupported a dome of the fame diameter as the 

 tower. From the top of this arofe a fmaller oftagonal tower, 

 I J feet in diameter and fcvcn in height ; and upon this was 

 the lantern to feet in diameter, and \i high, containing the 

 lights. It had a gallery or balcony furrounding it, to give 

 accefs to the outfide of the windows. The whole was fur- 

 mounted by a fanciful iron work with a vane. The entry was 

 by a door at the bottom, which was folid ftone, except the 

 aperture for the ftaircafe, 12 feet in height. Above this were 

 three floors, the loweft being the ftore-room, the next the 

 flate-room, and the third the kiichen. Thefe occupied the 

 height up to the level of the platform, or open gallery above- 

 mentioned. The dome above this contained the lodging- 

 room, and the oftagon above it the attending or look-out 

 room, immediately beneath the lantern. This edifice was, 

 as before-mentioned, more than four year* in erefting. The 

 firft fummer (for it is only in this feafon the rock is ac- 

 cefTible) was fpent in making J2 holes in the rock, and 

 fattening 12 great irons to hold the future work. In the 

 fecond year, a folid pillar 14 feet diameter, and 12 feet 

 • B high. 



444002 



