Smeaton's Tower
Smeaton's Tower, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 2NZ
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1386470
- Date first listed:
- 25-Jan-1954
- List Entry Name:
- Smeaton's Tower
- Statutory Address:
- Smeaton's Tower, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 2NZ
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 1999-08-07
- Reference:
- IOE01/00186/14
- Rights:
- © Mr Derek Hiscock. Source: Historic England Archive
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1386470
- Date first listed:
- 25-Jan-1954
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 09-Nov-1998
- List Entry Name:
- Smeaton's Tower
- Statutory Address 1:
- Smeaton's Tower, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 2NZ
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Smeaton's Tower, The Hoe, Plymouth, PL1 2NZ
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Plymouth (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SX 47762 53799
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 04/06/2018
SX4753
740-1/66/309
PLYMOUTH
The Hoe
Smeaton's Tower
(Formerly listed as The Smeaton Tower, THE PROMENADE, Hoe, previously listed as: THE HOE, Plymouth, The Smeaton Tower)
25/01/54
GV
I
Resited upper part of the former Eddystone Lighthouse. 1759 by John Smeaton, erected here on new base in 1882. Circular tapered tower of painted granite ashlar; octagonal lantern with glazing bars and ogee-shaped roof surmounted by ball finial and weather vane; small four-pane windows to tower. When this lighthouse was first built it was considered to be an important technical achievement.
HISTORICAL NOTE: The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was formed by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. From 1905 its members, known as suffragettes, used forms of direct action in their campaign, beginning with civil disobedience and escalating to include serious criminal damage and bombing. On 19 April 1913 a home-made suffragette bomb, consisting of a cylinder packed with explosive matter, was found at the entrance to Smeaton Tower. ‘Votes for women’ and ‘death in ten minutes’ were painted on the outside, but the wick, which had been lit, had blown out and the device did not ignite. These random attacks were carried out regularly by the WSPU in 1913 and 1914. Plymouth may have been targeted as Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested there on her return from a speaking tour of the USA the previous December.
This list entry was amended in 2018 as part of the centenary commemorations of the 1918 Representation of the People Act.
Listing NGR: SX4776253799
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 473857
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Devon, (1989), 665
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 03-Jul-2026 at 04:47:25.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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