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'Rock Lighthouses of Britain is really terrific. I have seldom read a book so packed with interest, excitement and tumult ...a roaring, thundering, salt-caked, tearing gale of a history that deserves to be a best-seller'. Countryside Monthly 'Nobody born of a seafaring nation could fail to find such a book anything but totally absorbing'. Shipping World and Shipbuilder '...an absorbing book which I found irresistible ...the illustrative material of this handsome book is exciting and occasionally superb'. Country Quest
Product Description
In this new and greatly enhanced edition of his classic book, which has become the standard work on the subject, Christopher Nicholson vividly describes the construction and history to the present day of some of the world's most famous lighthouses. It brings the story of the rock lighthouse completely up-to-date - from the day the first granite block was laid, through construction, automation, the disappearance of the lighthouse keeper, right up to the technology of today with the use of solar and wind power. This new edition will be a joy to read with its mix of exciting text, some of the most dramatic new colour photographs of British lighthouses ever taken, a selection of beautiful, hand-coloured plans and drawings, a brand new chapter about Rockall, the most unusual rock 'lighthouse' of all, and a detailed appendix. For those not intimately connected with the sea, it's almost impossible to imagine waves higher than the vessels that sail upon them smashing against half-submerged reefs that stir the whole ocean into a raging foam of white water. Man's struggle to build a permanent and durable structure such as a lighthouse on these sites is a story that cannot fail to stir the emotions of anyone who enjoys tales of endeavour, ingenuity and dogged determination.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The very first time I read this book was when I saw it in the local library nearly 25 years ago, it was much smaller in size and more compact BUT the effect it had on me then was the same as all these years later? I had a job to put it down once I started reading it, so well did I find Christopher Nicholson knew his subject and so interesting did he make it when putting it into print.
I think the title I have given this review is not too over the top when you consider exactly WHAT these early architects,engineers and builders not only thought of and what plans they came-up with in order to make their dreams reality, having been asked by Trinity House, The Board of Trade or The Northern Lighthouse Board to put a "light" on a rock or reef in the middle of the most inhospitable seas on the earth but also when one considers the conditions they had to work in,the fact that for a lot of the time the work was being done purely by manual labour and that they had to work off-site a lot it is a wonder these life-saving granite miracles were ever completed!
Thanks to the names Winstanley, Smeaton, the Stevensons, Walker and Douglass and all the men that helped them from the late 1690's onwards serious efforts were made to assist shipping around the coasts of Great Britain and to save them from rough seas, unlit rocks,sunken reefs and wreckers.Not all were successful, some were washed away? This fascinating book tells the facts AND tales of how the lighthouses were put together? How some caught fire and the keepers found themselves holding on the rocks for grim-life? How keepers at one lighthouse "simply disappeared" never to be seen again - meals left on the table?
An exceptional read on the subject of pharology.
I think the title I have given this review is not too over the top when you consider exactly WHAT these early architects,engineers and builders not only thought of and what plans they came-up with in order to make their dreams reality, having been asked by Trinity House, The Board of Trade or The Northern Lighthouse Board to put a "light" on a rock or reef in the middle of the most inhospitable seas on the earth but also when one considers the conditions they had to work in,the fact that for a lot of the time the work was being done purely by manual labour and that they had to work off-site a lot it is a wonder these life-saving granite miracles were ever completed!
Thanks to the names Winstanley, Smeaton, the Stevensons, Walker and Douglass and all the men that helped them from the late 1690's onwards serious efforts were made to assist shipping around the coasts of Great Britain and to save them from rough seas, unlit rocks,sunken reefs and wreckers.Not all were successful, some were washed away? This fascinating book tells the facts AND tales of how the lighthouses were put together? How some caught fire and the keepers found themselves holding on the rocks for grim-life? How keepers at one lighthouse "simply disappeared" never to be seen again - meals left on the table?
An exceptional read on the subject of pharology.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a sea-kayaker, I have a rather romantic attraction towards these monolithic guardians. This book doesn't set out to be a definitive text on lighthouse design and construction, but rather supplies a mixture of old and new photographs, line drawings, maps and first-hand accounts. I found the balance just right: well-researched, well-written and well worth the money!
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
My only complaint is that this book could be longer and more detailed. It just touches on some of the earlier attempts before rounding on the rock lighthouses around the British Isles.
It's just mind boggling that people managed to build these granite structures on some of Earth's most inhospitable bits of rock.
With waves often pounding, moving and sometimes washing away the parts they managed to land, these architects and builders just kept trying, eventually completing these structures that could withstand some of Earth's greatest forces and saving countless lives.
These brief stories are quite inspiring.
It's just mind boggling that people managed to build these granite structures on some of Earth's most inhospitable bits of rock.
With waves often pounding, moving and sometimes washing away the parts they managed to land, these architects and builders just kept trying, eventually completing these structures that could withstand some of Earth's greatest forces and saving countless lives.
These brief stories are quite inspiring.
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