Smeaton's Tower stood were becoming eroded. Each time a large wave hit, the lighthouse shook from side to side. Smeaton's Tower ceased operation in 1879 with the illumination of Douglass's Tower on an adjacent rock. In 1882 the upper part of Smeaton's Tower was dismantled and rebuilt as a memorial to Smeaton on a new base on Plymouth Hoe, replacing the triangular obelisk that had been built there by Trinity House as a navigation aid in the early 19th century. It was opened to the public by the Mayor of Plymouth on 24 September 1884. The foundation and stub of the old
Mark Smeaton and her brother, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford. All but Smeaton maintained their innocence, but none of them was tortured as Smeaton was. Out of all those arrested for adultery, Smeaton's arrest caused the greatest scandal, because those who knew of the charges were shocked that the Queen would have an affair with a person of such low degree. A slightly different version of the events surrounding Smeaton's guilty plea is told by the nineteenth century English historical writer and poet, Agnes Strickland. Strickland maintained that Smeaton was lured into signing the incriminating deposition by the subtlety of Sir William Fitzwilliam,