In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, 
the Ghost of Christmas Present takes 
Scrooge to the location of three sets 
of workers upon whom the success of 
British industry and commerce at the 
time depended; a coal miner’s cottage, 
a lighthouse, and a merchant ship at 
sea. As an island nation, our rocky 
coastline has always presented dangers 
to merchant shipping transporting 
goods to and from our ports, or to ships 
fishing in deeper waters. Year 7 student 
Ajai Singh tells the story of one young 
Scottish engineer who was determined 
to do something about the loss of life at 
sea, who, with determination and skill, 
achieved a feat most thought impossible.
11 miles off the east coast of Scotland 
lay a terrifying beast who would devour 
anything in its path, it’s very name 
instilling fear across the Scottish seas. It 
was the colossal sandstone reef known 
as the Bell Rock and an ordinary man 
(Robert Stevenson) was trying to tame 
it, by putting what would be the saviour 
of doomed sailors on top of it - a sole 
off-shore lighthouse. But there was one 
fact standing in his way. No man-made 
structure had survived on the Bell Rock. 
Even the warning bell placed there by 
monks, which gave this rock its name, 
was sunk after merely a year in place. 
Robert Stevenson designed this lighthouse 
in a similar fashion to the Eddystone 
Lighthouse, which had been already 
standing for 50 years. First, he had to 
convince the Northern Lighthouse Board. 
They reluctantly listened to his ideas, 
as Stevenson explained his tower was 
taller and had better oil technology than 
the Eddystone itself. They then asked 
Stevenson to put some figures into the 
picture and unsurprisingly the amount 
that came out of his mouth matched the 
amount they were planning to fund for 
the project. “£32000”. Yet still the Board 
dismissed his plans. They just couldn’t 
believe a lighthouse could withstand 
the almighty force of the North Sea day 
after day. him built on a rock submerged 
beneath the sea for the better 
part of the day. Then in 1804 a 
huge disaster took place. HMS 
York was destroyed when hates 
hull was thrown on to the Bell 
Rock by a stormy sea, with 
nearly 500 lives lost. This led 
to a public demand for action. 
The Northern Lighthouse Board 
turned to Stevenson’s plan. 
But would his plan for an off-
shore lighthouse work? To help 
the Board decide they invited 
John Rennie, an accomplished 
Scottish architect to view the plans and 
showed him Stevenson’s ideas. Rennie, 
knowing that he could construct the work 
of this lighthouse and his name gave 
him a lot more trust from the Board than 
Stevenson, asked to lead the job. The 
Board agreed, letting Stevenson’s dream 
carry through but only under the reins of 
Rennie...
It took 3 years to construct from 1807 
to 1810 working in the summer seasons 
when seas were calmer. Stevenson asked 
Rennie’s advice on all types of questions 
from the size of granite blocks to use to 
the type of putty to use in the windows, 
questions Rennie would answer in 
detailed letters, advice Stevenson would 
increasingly ignore. When finally finished 
it was regarded as a marvel of 
the age. The Bell Rock would 
claim no more victims. Today 
it stands over 200 years old, 
its construction and design 
so perfect that it has hardly 
changed over those two 
centuries, remaining the oldest 
operating off-shore lighthouse 
in the world.
Ajai Singh, Year 7
The Bell Rock Lighthouse
A WONDER OF THE
INDUSTRIAL AGE
IMAGE: J. M. W. Turner, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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