Lighthouses
| How the lighthouse was built: A temporary cable car is transporting workers and stones to an iron ocean platform adjacent to the lighthouse, which is nearing completion. | |
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| Location | Near Eastbourne, East Sussex, England |
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| Coordinates | 50°44′1.5″N 0°14′29″E / 50.73375°N 0.24139°E / 50.73375; 0.24139 |
| Year first constructed | 1902 |
| Automated | 1993 |
| Height | 43 m (141 ft) |
| Focal height | 31 m (102 ft) |
| Current lens | 1 Single Tier LED Lantern |
| Range | 8 nmi (15 km) |
| Characteristic | 2 White Flashes Every 20 Seconds |
| ARLHS number | ENG 005 |
The headland was a danger to shipping. In 1831, construction began on Belle Tout lighthouse on the next headland west from Beachy Head. It became operational in 1834. Due to cliff erosion, in March 1999 Belle Tout lighthouse was moved more than 50 feet (15 m) further inland.
Because mist and low clouds could hide the light of Belle Tout, another lighthouse was built in the sea below Beachy Head. It was 43 m (141 ft) in height and became operational in October 1902. For more than 80 years, the red-and-white striped tower was manned by three lighthouse keepers. Their job was to maintain the light, which rotates two white flashes every 20 seconds was then visible 26 miles (42 km) out to sea. The lighthouse was fully automated in 1983 and the keepers withdrawn.
In June 2010, Trinity House announced in the five yearly "Aids To Navigation Review" that the light range would be reduced to 8 nmi (15 km) and the fog signal discontinued. In February 2011, the work was undertaken and light range reduced by the installation of a new LED navigation light system. The fog signal was discontinued at this time.
In 2011 Trinity House announced that it could no longer afford to repaint the distinctive red and white stripes and that it would have to be left to return to its natural granite grey. It stated that because boats now have high tech navigational systems the day marker stripes are no longer essential. However, a sponsored campaign to keep the stripes was launched in October 2011.
Read more about this topic: Beachy Head
Famous quotes containing the word lighthouses:
“the ocean, under the pulsation of lighthouses and noise of bell
buoys,
advances as usual, looking as if it were not that ocean in which
dropped things are bound to sink—
in which if they turn and twist, it is neither with volition nor
consciousness.”
—Marianne Moore (1887–1972)
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)