Littledart Collections make beautiful, scale models of some of the United Kingdoms most famous and evocative buildings. These lighthouse models are made in special ceramics by skilled craftsmen, to scale 1:150, they are based on their own survey and detailed drawings to ensure authenticity. The models provide a perfect reminder of that special holiday, that special moment or make a different and collectable gift.
Smeaton's Tower now standing proudly on Plymouth Hoe started its existance as the fourth lighthous built on the famous Eddystone Rocks. The Eddystone rocks are a treacherous obstcle stretching over a square mile in the centre of the English Channel shipping lanes, 14 miles south of Plymouth. Following the failure of Walter Whitfield, Winstanley's Tower and Rudyerd's Tower, John Smeaton, who had become the father of civil engineering, proposed the building of a solid granite tower, which by using its own weight would be stronger. The preceding towers had all been flexible, so there was some degree of scepticism regarding the design.
The design was further enhanced by the use of groundbreaking dovetail joints in the granite blocks. An indent in the underside of each block and a corresponding raised dovetail in the top of the block below served both to protect the mortar and increase the strength of the tower. Smeaton designed the tower with its now famous Smeaton's curve, this design was based on the shape of a tree with a curvature at the base which deflected the wave energy away from the tower reducing the forces on it. John Smeaton was a pioneer of the use of mortar and experimented at Portland Quarries - just a few miles east from here in Bridport - with crushed limestone, clay and sand to mproduce a mortar, which dries as hard as rock. He used this mixture to cement the blocks together.
It took 3 years to constuct the lighthouse, and it was 70ft. high when finished. A chandelier of 24 candles provided the first light, and on 16th October 1659 the candles were lit and the light was seen from Plymouth Hoe.
In the 1880's it was found that the rock below it was undermined and it was decided to build a new tower. Smeaton's groundbreaking tower was deimantled and approximately two thirds of the tower was transported, block by block, to Plymouth Hoe. It was reassembled and has remained there ever since. Smeaton's towere lower stump remains on the Eddystone alongside its successor and current tower.
