To mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of the renown civil engineer, John Smeaton, who created Plymouth’s most iconic landmark, a plaque recognising his achievements as a civil engineer is being restored to Smeaton’s Tower.
The 72-foot-high lighthouse, originally constructed on the Eddystone Reef, 14 miles off the coast of Plymouth, was built by Smeaton in 1759. Smeaton’s ground breaking design, using interlocking stones, was highly innovative for the time and became the archetype for offshore lighthouses due to its extreme resilience.
The upper part of the lighthouse was rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe and opened in 1884 as a lasting memorial to Smeaton’s genius and in dedication to generations of lighthouse keepers.
Smeaton was the first person to describe himself as a civil engineer and remains one of the profession’s most important historic figures worldwide.
Miranda Housden, regional director, ICE South West, said: “Smeaton was the stand out engineer of his age. The enduring design of his most famous structure shows what a trailblazer he was. To this day Smeaton’s Tower appears on the ICE’s coat of arms and we like to think of him as the father of civil engineering. We hope his pioneering spirit will help inspire a new generation of creative problem solvers to become civil engineers.”
Back in 1992, a plaster bust of Smeaton and an International Historic Landmark plaque, commemorating the global significance of Smeaton and his tower, was unveiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the then Lord Mayor of Plymouth. It was displayed in the tower until renovation work began in the early 2000s.
As part of its tricentennial commemorations, ICE South West is working with Plymouth's award-winning museum, art gallery and archive, The Box to restore the International Historic Landmark plaque to the plinth at the top of Smeaton’s Tower.
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