Beachy Head
Beachy Head is a prominent chalk headland located
between Eastbourne and Birling Gap on the south
coast of England.
The cliff at Beachy Head is the highest chalk sea cliff in
Britain, rising to 530 feet (162 metres) at its
highest point above sea level.
The chalk of the cliffs was formed over a period of
30 million years when a warm sub tropical sea
covered the area, between 95 to 65 million years ago.
The shells of billions of microscopic planktonic
algae formed a deposit which eventually hardened
into layers of white rock a thousand feet thick.
This has since been uplifted due to continental
movement and subsequent erosion has created the
Downs seen today.
The name Beachy Head is a corruption of the original
French words 'Beauchef' from 1274 and 'Beaucheif'
from 1317 meaning 'beautiful headland'. The name
Beachy Head appears to have been consistently used
from 1724.
Beachy Head is an area of outstanding natural beauty
and is considered to be one of the most beautiful
locations in the entire UK.
Due to the dangerous rocks off the headland
campaigns for a lighthouse date back to 1691 when
petitions were raised due to sailors losing their
lives.
Eventually it was agreed that a lighthouse could be
built on the peak known as Belle Tout, from where
the lighthouse was to take its name.
Belle Tout lighthouse was in some ways successful
but was short lived due to fog and coastal erosion.
The old lighthouse was decommissioned in 1902 when
the new lighthouse at the base of the cliffs came
into operation.
The new lighthouse became fully automated in 1983
and is monitored from the Trinity House Operations
Control Centre in Harwich in Essex, 24 hours a day.
Beachy Head is a popular location for filming and
such films as Quadrophenia and The Living Daylights
have been filmed here as well as the BBC owning
Belle Tout for a while where The Life and Loves of a
She Devil were filmed.
For more information on the
history of Belle Tout click here. |
