Wolf Rock Lighthouse

Owing its name to the unique howl heard when the wind filled the fissures of the rock, which is four miles south west of Lands End, or possibly too, because of the assumed shape of the rock to a wolf’s head, the station came into Trinity House history with the leasing to a Mr Henry Smith, the right to mark this marine hazard in 1791.

Originally intending to build a lighthouse, Mr Smith found the task too daunting and finally constructed a wrought iron mast 6 metres high and 10 centimetres in diameter, complete with six stays and surmounted by a metal model of a wolf on the rock. This daymark, since it was not a lighted beacon, was finally erected in 1795 and was less substantial than had been specified, and although it offered little resistance to the Atlantic, the sea soon carried it away.