The Breakwater and Lighthouse is a Grade II listed building in the Plymouth local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 May 1975. Lighthouse, breakwater. 1 related planning application.
The Breakwater and Lighthouse
- WRENN ID
- riven-entrance-magpie
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Plymouth
- Constituency
- Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP: Luke Pollard (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 1 May 1975
- Type
- Lighthouse, breakwater
- Address
- The Breakwater and Lighthouse, the Sound, City of Plymouth
- OS grid reference
- SX 464 505
- Coordinates
- 50.33454, -4.1587
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Breakwater and Lighthouse is a breakwater and lighthouse located in Plymouth Sound. It was started in 1811 by engineer Sir John Rennie, with William Knight serving as the resident architect, and was completed in 1841. The structure is built of stone and features ramped ends, with a long rectangular plan that includes splayed ends towards the Sound, extending over 5,000 feet in length. It is noted that the construction required approximately 4.5 million tons of stone, marking it as a remarkable feat of engineering.
Local climate
The Breakwater and Lighthouse sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 990 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 80% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 9 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 3 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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