Stranded off the coast of south-west Wales, Smalls Lighthouse stands over 40m high and, automated since 1987, it guides shipping safely past the Smalls, the rocks on which it stands.
The original structure, built in 1776, consisted of a light perched atop nine oak pillars. But some 25 years later, it was the scene of a macabre episode that forever changed the way UK lighthouses were manned.
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Where is Smalls Lighthouse?
Smalls Lighthouse is approximately 20 miles west of Marloes Peninsula, Pembrokeshire, and 8 miles west of Grassholm. It is the most remote lighthouse operated by Trinity House (the official authority for lighthouses in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar).
When was Smalls Lighthouse built?
The original Smalls Lighthouse was built between 1775–1776 in a design perched on oak pillars, so the waves washed through beneath. The lighthouse we see today started to be built in 1857 and was finished in 1861. Smalls Lighthouse was the UK's first wind and solar-powered lighthouse.
What happened at Smalls Lighthouse?
An incident that would change lighthouse policy forever occurred around 1801, in what's now referred to as the 'Smalls Lighthouse Tragedy'. It was well known that keepers Thomas Griffith and Thomas Howell didn’t get on, so when Griffith had an accident, took ill and died, Howell was terrified that he would be hanged for his murder. Bad weather stopped the keeper from alerting the authorities to his colleague’s death, and the stench of the deceased’s decaying body led him to construct a coffin for it and strap it to a shelf outside.
Unfortunately, the storms shattered the coffin, freeing one of the corpse’s arms so that it looked like it was waving for help. When help arrived three weeks after Griffith’s death, poor Howell was a broken man. Though not charged, he never recovered his mental health. The incident caused a change in lighthouse regulations: it was never again permitted for just two men to be on duty, and instead three men were sent out.
A film partly inspired by the tragedy, called The Lighthouse, was released in 2019 and starred Robert Pattinson and Willem Defoe.
Main image: Smalls Lighthouse taken from a few miles away/Credit: The original uploader was Pishmishy at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
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