Beachy Head Lighthouse

Beachy Head Lighthouse stands on the English Channel’s floor below the famous chalk cliffs of Beachy Head in East Sussex. Built in the early 20th century, it replaced an earlier cliff-top lighthouse that often lost its light in sea mists. Sir Thomas Matthews directed its construction between 1900 and 1902, using 3,660 tons of Cornish granite. A temporary cable car carried workers and stone to an iron platform 165 metres from the cliffs. The tower first showed two white flashes every twenty seconds from a paraffin vapour burner, supported by explosive fog signals fired every five minutes. For more than eighty years three keepers maintained the revolving light visible 26 nautical miles out to sea. Solid-fuel ranges cooked meals and paraffin lamps lit their rooms until electricity arrived in 1975. The explosive fog signal lasted until 1976, making Beachy Head one of the last to use them. After full automation in 1983 the keepers left, and a chalk fall in 1999 cut power until repairs upgraded the lamp and fog signal. In 2011 a new LED system reduced the light’s range to eight nautical miles and removed the fog signal entirely. Visitors find a 33-metre granite tower painted in bold red and white stripes. The lantern at the top still holds its original first-order optic, though the LED lantern now sits outside on the gallery. Solar panels circle the base, powering the stronger light installed in 2018. The old explosive fog signal gear remains in place, and the decommissioned lens stays inside the tower. From the cliffs above, the lighthouse appears as a striking red-and-white marker against the chalk and sea.