Bell Rock Lighthouse

According to legend, Bell Rock got its name because, in the 14th century, the Abbot of Arbroath had had a warning bell installed on it, which was stolen a year later by a Dutch pirate. (This legend is immortalised in "The Inchcape Rock", a poem by the 19th-century poet Robert Southey.) Before the construction of the lighthouse, the rock had caused many shipwrecks because, except for a few hours a day at low tide, it lies just below the surface of the sea. By the turn of the 19th century, it was estimated that, in a typical winter, as many as six ships were wrecked on the rock. (In one storm, seventy ships had been lost off the east coast of Scotland.)

In 1807, Stevenson hired 60 men (including a blacksmith so that the pickaxes used to cut the foundations could be re-sharpened on site). Stevenson did not want to use black powder as it might have damaged the rock on which the lighthouse was to stand. The workers set sail for the rock on 17 August 1807, and would be away for two months. While initially some workers had been reluctant to agree to work even on the Sabbath in order to complete the lighthouse on time and on budget, in the end, all but four of the workers agreed to do it, and even those four (who were stonemasons) eventually also worked on Sundays. Because the rock was covered by water for 20 hours each day (up to 12 ft of water…