Image copyright held by Peter Rivron. Godrevy Lighthouse stands guard over The Stones, a reef stretching offshore of Cornwall for one and a half miles. The Stones had wrecked The Nile, a passenger streamer, in December 1854, with the loss of all hands. After much debate as to whether to build a lighthouse on the reef or on the island, work started on construction of a light on the island in 1858, with the light first operating in March 1859.