September 1st, 143 years ago, is day of great historical importance to the Islands. On this day in 1858, the Bishop Rock lighthouse first shone out as a warning beacon to sailors attempting to negotiate the Western rocks off Scilly.

Before this time, the only warning system had been the inadequate St. Agnes lighthouse. The first Bishop rock lighthouse was erected in 1850 and consisted of a metal frame supporting the tower, the idea being that the strong Atlantic swells would simple wash through. This theory was disproved even before the light had been lit as one morning the engineers turned up after a storm to find the metal supports had sheered off.

It became clear that building a lighthouse to survive such ferocious winter storms would be one of the most spectacular architectural undertakings of the time. Trinity House, the body behind lighthouses in England and Wales, were undeterred by their setback and set about building a second structure out of Cornish granite.

The building of Bishop Rock lighthouse was prompted by the number of ships that were being wrecked in this area stretching from pre-historic times to the day I was built. Many have asked why the Islands should be named The Isles of Scilly; the truth is that the word ‘Scilly’ comes from the Greek word ‘Scylla’ which means dangerous rocks or reef, referring to the Western Rocks. Ships were still wrecked after the lighthouse was installed but countless more lives were saved. One of the less fortunate wrecks after the building of the lighthouse was that of the Schiller, wrecked on Rettarier ledges in 1875 just half a mile from the Lighthouse. Lighthouse keepers reported seeing terrible sights of bodies floating past Bishop Rock.

The granite structure was added to in 1883 in order to strengthen it and then remained relatively unchanged until 1973 when the paraffin lamp was replaced by electric and a helipad was added to the top of the structure. In 1992 the Bishop Rock lighthouse became a fully automated structure and stands, tall testament to an age of engineering.

Trinity house spent ?111,949 on the lighthouse up to 1883 which is a gauge of how the light was viewed in importance. The strength of waves were once measured out at Bishop Rock and recorded the biggest forces ever recorded in Britain and one of the highest recorded anywhere ever.