1902: An Illuminating Introduction for a British Lighthouse in the English Channel

October 2, 1902

Operations began for a lighthouse in England’s ceremonial county of East Sussex. This lighthouse is located in the part of the English Channel that is below the cliffs of the headland known as Beachy Head. It was built to replace the Belle Tout Lighthouse, which had been in service since 1834 and is located atop Beachy Head’s cliffs. The big problem with Belle Tout Lighthouse was that its light was too often obscured by high-level sea mists in the area. The decision was therefore made to build Beachy Head Lighthouse at the foot of those cliffs instead.

Beachy Head Lighthouse was designed and constructed by Thomas Matthews (1848-1930), the engineer-in-chief for Trinity House. (Trinity House is the official authority for lighthouses in England, Wales, Gibraltar, and the Channel Islands.) On the day of the inaugural lighting of this structure, the London-based Times provided a detailed description of what was involved in building it in the English Channel.

This newspaper reported, “After nearly three years of steady work a firm and stable tower now stands on the site, containing 3,660 tons [3,320.3 metric tons] of granite, each stone being dovetailed into its neighbours on each of its inner faces, thus rendering the structure practically a monolith – and it is satisfactory to record that it in connexion with the work no accident to life or limb has occurred.”

Measuring 108 feet (33 meters) in height, Beachy Head Lighthouse was first electrified in 1975 and has been fully automated since 1983. This lighthouse’s cultural claims to fame have included appearances in the 1967 spy-fi TV series The Prisoner and the 1968 musical fantasy film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Photo Credit: Nigel Homer / Beachy Head Lighthouse / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)

For more information on Beachy Head Lighthouse, please check out https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/beachy-head-lighthouse

Additional information on lighthouses in England is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lighthouses_in_England