Bishop Rock: The smallest island on the planet

Standing in the middle of the ocean and one of the most remote places in England, Bishop Rock is a typical challenge to the power of nature, and symbolic of the misty nation as a nation. island .

Bishop Rock is only 6.5 km from the island of Scilly (county Cornwall), Bishop Rock is just a small ledge rising from the sea, 46m long and 16m wide. On this ledge there is only one beacon, and it is because of this that Bishop Rock became the smallest island on the planet to be built on it, and included in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Previously, kicking around Scilly Island was the cause of many shipwrecks. In 1707, when the fleet of ships with 2,000 people was wrecked by Admiral Cloudesley Shovell (British naval officer), the trio of powers of the British, Welsh and Trinity House authorities decided. intends to build a lighthouse just above the most dangerous area in the west, and that's the Bishop Rock ledge.

James Walker, the chief engineer of Trinity House, objected to building a tower on Bishop Rock, on the grounds that the edge of the rock was too small while other external elements were too strong. He pointed out that the lighthouse tower will not be able to withstand the intense power of the sea and the pressure of the wind (up to nearly 3418kg / m ² ).

Therefore, in 1847, a screw column with a construction cost of £ 12,000 was erected. The first task is to bury cast iron pins into hard granite, prop up the iron bars. And so, according to the calculation, the waves will rush through the columns instead of hitting the tower directly. Within 2 years, this project is completed, and just need to install more lighting equipment. However, before it was fully completed, a strong storm blew away the entire building the night of February 5, 1850.

James Walker did not care about the news, and decided to rebuild a granite tower. This is quite a dangerous task because the waves are quite intense and the island is too small. Workers at that time had to rest at an island with no other people nearby, and all houses and workshops were temporarily built here. Moving from island to Bishop Rock also depends on the weather. Granite taken from the mainland must be honed and counted before moving to the island. Finally, after 7 years, the construction of the lighthouse was completed in 1858.

This 49m high lighthouse currently uses electricity from generators and batteries, instead of candles and kerosene lamps like the early days. In 1976, a new airport was built here, and in 1991, the entire Bishop Rock system was switched to automatic operation. The rulers of the lighthouse have left since December 1992.