This totally doesn't fit the thread name, but where else am I going to post it? :-D

Oh well, maybe it does fit the thread. The structure is over 200 years old and was a marvelous piece of engineering and construction.

The Secret Life Of Lighthouses
Documentary

"Presenter Rob Bell takes us on a voyage around Britain and Ireland to reveal the hidden secrets that make offshore lighthouses such extraordinary feats of engineering. Braving the awesome might of the North Atlantic to the tempestuous moods of the North Sea, Rob takes a look behind closed doors to crack the code of these of these enigmatic structures."

I've watched the two episodes aired so far on Oz TV station SBS.

Yesterday while busking on St Pat's Day across the road from a new high-rise building construction with a humongous counterweighted crane on top, I was thinking of the episode on the Bell Lighthouse which I had been watching the day before. Robert Stevenson, the engineer who designed and project-managed the construction of that lighthouse also had the bright idea to use a counterweight on large construction cranes.

The site of the Bell Lighthouse is a reef of rocks submerged except at low tide so construction was problematic, and some people said it was impossible. I also like the idea of the huge interlocking stone pieces used in the tower so that it could withstand onslaughts from the sea. The parabolic reflectors and later the Fresnel lenses to project the light were also interesting.

It was built between 1907 and 1810.