We now proceed to a brief account of the Bell-rock lighthouse, which, like its model, the Eddystone lighthouse, has figured in a thousand periodical pub lications, and will therefore not require the accompaniment of illustrations in our work. The Bell-rock is a dangerous situated in the Firth of Forth, and the lighthouse upon it is of recent date. Various expedients have been resorted to at different times to warn the mariner of his approach to this rock, which is the more dangerous, as it is 12 feet below the surface at high-water. None of these, however, could be rendered durable ; and though the necessity of a lighthouse was acknowledged on all hands, the difficulties and expenses attending such a work 'prevented the undertaking till the year 1806, when it was finally determined to erect a building of stone similar to that on the Eddy stone rock. The work was begun in the year 1807 by erecting a building of timber as a temporary refuge for the workmen, which occupied the whole of the first season, as it was only for two or three hours each tide that the work men could proceed. The winter was spent in preparing the stones ashore at Arbroath, and in the following summer four courses of stories were completed. In 1809 the solid part of the lighthouse was finished, being about 30 feet high. By September in the next year, the building was raised to its height of 100 feet, and a light was exhibited in February, 1811. The building is a circular tower, measuring 42 feet in diameter at the base, and 13 feet in diameter at the top. The ascent from the rock to the top of the solid, or lowest 30 feet, is accom plished by a trap ladder; but strangers who cannot well ascend by such paths, are hoisted up in a chair by means of a crane. The light-room is 88 feet above
the medium level of the tide, yet the sprays of the sea occasionally lash against the glass, so that it becomes necessary in gales of wind to shut the whole of the dead-lights to windward. The light-room is of an octagonal figure, 12 feet across, and 15 feet in height. The light is from oil, with Argand burners placed in the focus of silver-plated reflectors. Machinery is used for tolling two large bells night and day during the continuance of foggy weather. Four light-keepers are appointed, three of whom are always at the lighthouse, and one, m his turn, is ashore at liberty. At Arbroath, a village on the coast about 12 miles distant from the Bell-rock, is a signal tower with an observatory, from which cor responding signals are kept up with the lighthouse.
e most remarkable lighthouse on the Irish coast is the Rilwarlin or South rock lighthouse, lying off the coast of Downshire, and near the entrance of Loch Strangford, a station of great importance to the navigation of the Irish Channel. This lighthouse stands upon an extensive reef, lying about 3 miles from the shore. Part of the rock is at all times above the perpendicular rise of the tide, but the foundation of the lighthouse is only about 4 or 5 feet above low water of spring tides. It was the work of the late Mr. Rogers, engineer to the Board of Customs: it was founded in 1795, and measures 31 feet diameter at the base, 17 feet diameter at the top, and its height about 70 feet.