Smeaton's Tower administrator Sir John Barrow. Smeaton's Tower has been a Grade I-listed building since 1954. It is open for visitors, who may climb 93 steps, including steep ladders, to the lantern room, and observe Plymouth Sound and the city. Smeaton's Tower Smeaton's Tower is a memorial to celebrated civil engineer John Smeaton, designer of the third and most notable Eddystone Lighthouse. A major step forward in lighthouse design, Smeaton's structure was in use from 1759 to 1877, until erosion of the ledge it was built upon forced new construction. The tower was largely dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe in Plymouth,
Knott family and some reflectors were in rather a dirty state. The lightkeepers are comfortably lodged and seem to be well pleased with their situations. The dwelling houses partake of that cleanliness which is general in the cottages of the English." George Knott was the fourth in the succession. After serving under his father at the South Foreland low lighthouse, he was transferred in 1861 to the Smeaton tower on the Eddystone where he remained for five years as Principal Keeper. From there he moved to the little-known Bideford lighthouse where he remained until 1879 when he became Principal keeper of the