The by Raymond Wilson MD 2006 The lighthouse What I remember best about and The lighthouse guards the mouth of the bay My holiday was how, each night lighthouse poems. to warn other ships to keep away The lighthouse kept sweeping my bedroom to steer clear of the rocky shore With it’s clean, cool ray of light. where many a ship has been wrecked before.

Through gales and storms, through day and night the lighthouse flashes it’s yellow light warning sailors to keep away I lay there tucked up in the blankets from the jagged rocks beneath the bay. And suddenly the lighthouse shone A switched on torch that stabbed the night By John Foster With it’s bright beam, then moved on.

Lighthouses have been used for more than a thousand years because sailors were At first people lit Then back it came, worried about their safety. fires at the top of out of the dark the lighthouse The story of how So that sailors could see the and swung around tower. They would one lighthouse lighthouse warning them about as in some fixed plan, set fire to wood or rocks, the lighthouses needed the light of the changed. coal but the fire strong lights. lighthouse didn’t always burn -opening, folding very well. and closing like a fan. Sometimes there would be so much smoke that the light from the fire was hard to see.

The lighthouse keepers were not paid and so they Next they tried using candles Quite often the candle light was just a simple weren’t always very good at doing their job. The old lighthouse at Flamborough was made of chalk blocks and would have had a fire on as a light for the ships out at lantern that someone put in their window and hoped that the ships would see it. Sometimes when the the top of it. sea, but first they had to put light was really the candles behind glass. There are stories about needed the keepers Do you know why? villages who put lights in would let the fire the wrong places to trick burn down or, they the sailors so that their were too lazy to turn Candles didn’t give a very good ships would end up on up and light the fire! Of course, when that light and so the light from the happened the ship lighthouses could only be seen the rocks. Once the would be in danger of from a short distance away. ships were on the rocks running into the the villagers would steal rocks. from the ships.

Link to clickable map After candles, people started to use oil Eventually, electricity was invented but This map shows all lamps to light the way for ships at sea. not until about 140 years ago! the lighthouses in These are oil lamps These huge and . that were used bulbs lit the instead of candles. lighthouses. The Eddystone Grace darling and Lighthouse her father would They were have used lamps as big as a like these. football! This is probably the most This is what it looked like The people knew how important Next came the tower of . famous lighthouse, the the lighthouse was so they had after Henry changed it to This was the fourth Eddystone Eddystone lighthouse near another one built by John Rudyerd. make it stronger. lighthouse! and this is what it This is what it looked like more John Smeaton decided a stronger looked like when it was built in He said that he was so than 200 years ago. 1698, 307 years ago. pleased with it that he’d lighthouse was needed so he chose like to be inside it during Once again, it was made of wood . to make it from stone. It was made of wood and was the greatest storm ever! When he designed it, he tried to No one had ever tried to make a built on the rocks by a man Little did he know that his think about how he could make it a lighthouse from stone in the called . wish would one day come bit like a ship because he thought middle of the sea before. It was a very strange building true and that his lighthouse that ships were good at surviving Everyone thought it was a very and after only a year, Henry would be completely storms. silly idea! realised that it wasn’t strong destroyed and worse, he Unfortunately, one day a spark When he designed his lighthouse enough against the terrible would be killed as he slept from its chimney set fire to it and he wanted it to be a bit like an oak force of the sea! inside it! it was completely burned down! tree because oak trees are strong.

He chose the strongest stone The fifth lighthouse was How things he could find and did lots of His lighthouse was so strong that change. it would have still been there built by Sir James Douglas experiments to help him to and was lit in 1882, 123 decide the best way to build it. today. Sadly, the rock it stood on was worn away so much by the sea years ago. He also designed new kinds of that every time a wave hit it, the It was also built of stone lifting gear and cranes so that lighthouse shook violently! and looks more like the he could lift the heavy stone lighthouses we are used to Henry’s second About 130 years ago the stone lighthouse. The 3 rd from the ships that carried it seeing today. In 1703 there lighthouse lighthouse was taken down and was the John Smeaton’s from the mainland to the rock. built by tower was made of rebuilt at and……….. A lighthouse keeper used greatest storm John in history and stone and was much to look after after it but 1698 – Henry Rudyerd in stronger. It was When it was finished it was lit Winstanley made he was killed 1709 was when his taken down and by 24 huge candles! since computers were of wood but also made moved when the after a year he lighthouse of wood. It is still there today! invented, there is no need collapsed! land it stood on decided it wasn’t It burned gave way. for a lighthouse keeper. strong enough. down!

The fifth lighthouse built by There are many lighthouses along Flamborough Lighthouse Inside Sir James Douglas was also our coast. Flamborough built of stone and was much Flamborough stronger. Lighthouse Lighthouse was built in For many years a lighthouse 1806. keeper looked after it. Now it has been made automatic and doesn’t need a It is more lighthouse keeper to look than 200 after it. years old. Some are A staircase inside. very old. What do we call this Soon there will be no type of staircase? lighthouse keepers left! What is it like inside Flamborough Lighthouse? Do you know why?

If you look carefully you can see the lamp!

Flamborough www.ks1resources.co.uk lighthouse at night.