Plymouth Breakwater
Plymouth Breakwater Lighthouse
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 Devon
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| Location |
Plymouth Sound Devon England |
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| Coordinates | 50°20′04″N 4°09′32″W / 50.334553°N 4.158773°W |
| Year first constructed | 1844 |
| Construction | stone tower |
| Tower shape | cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern |
| Markings / pattern | white tower and lantern |
| Height | 23.5 metres (77 ft) |
| Focal height | 19 metres (62 ft) |
| Characteristic | Fl WR 10s. Iso W 4s. at 12 metres (39 ft) |
| Fog signal | blast every 15s. |
| Admiralty number | A0114 |
| NGA number | 0148 |
| ARLHS number | ENG-104 |
| Managing agent | Ministry of Defence |
Coordinates: 50°20′2.98″N 4°8′55.18″W / 50.3341611°N 4.1486611°W
Plymouth Breakwater is a 1,560-metre (1,710 yd) stone breakwater protecting Plymouth Sound and the anchorages near Plymouth, Devon, England. It is 13 metres (43 ft) wide at the top and the base is 65 metres (213 ft). It lies in about 10 metres (33 ft) of water. Around 4 million tons of rock were used in its construction in 1812 at the then-colossal cost of £1.5 million (equivalent to £90.1 million today).
In 1806, as the Napoleonic Wars impended, Lord St. Vincent commissioned John Rennie and Joseph Whidbey to plan a means of making Plymouth Bay a safe anchorage for the Channel Fleet. In 1811 came the order to begin construction; Whidbey was appointed Acting Superintending Engineer. This task required great engineering, organizational and political skills, as the many strictly technical challenges were complicated by the significant resources devoted to the project, from which various parties evidenced a desire for advantage. Nearly 4,000,000 (four million) tons of stone were quarried and transported, using about a dozen ships innovatively designed by the two engineers. A paper to the Royal Society suggests that Whidbey found many fossils as a result of the quarrying necessary to the breakwater.
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