The World's Smallest Island Is Mostly Lighthouse

James Walker's first lighthouse on Bishop Rock never even lit. The 120-foot iron-legged tower he started in 1847 was meant to perch above the waves on stilts. On 5 February 1850, a storm took the whole thing down before the lantern was installed.

The rock itself is 46 metres by 16 — a single skerry of granite at the western edge of the Isles of Scilly, 45 km off the Cornish coast. The Atlantic hits it with nothing in the way. Nicholas Douglass and his sons started the second attempt in 1851, this time in stone, and on 1 September 1858 the new tower finally shone its light. Total bill: £34,559.

It did not last either, not really. By 1883, James Douglass — Nicholas's son — was redesigning it again, sheathing the original tower in a thicker granite jacket and adding height. The rebuilt lighthouse was relit on 25 October 1887, 49 metres tall, tied with Eddystone as the tallest in England.

Guinness lists Bishop Rock as the world's smallest island with a building. There is no soil, no anchorage, no walking around. A helipad went on top in 1976, which is how supplies arrived for the last keepers. They left on 15 December 1992, when the light became automated. The rock has been alone ever since, except for the tower it can barely hold up.