The Lighthouse under the cliff

How the Beachy Head Lighthouse was built. Photo shows a temporary cable car and iron ocean platform transporting workers and stones to the lighthouse site.

For the cliffs themselves see Seven Sisters

Beachy Head is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex. The Seven Sisters are a series of Chalk cliffs by the English Channel. Chalk (ʧɔːk is a soft white porous Sedimentary rock, a form of Limestone composed of the Mineral Calcite. Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Eastbourne ( is a large town and borough of East Sussex, on the south coast of England with an estimated population of 94816 as of 2007 East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 m (530 ft) above sea level. In Geography and Geology, a cliff is a significant vertical or near vertical rock exposure The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit The peak allows views of the south east coast from Dungeness to the east, to Selsey Bill in the west. Selsey Bill is a headland into the English Channel on the south coast of England in the county of West Sussex. Its height has also made it a notorious suicide spot.

The chalk was formed in the Cretaceous period when the area was under the sea, 65 million years ago and earlier. The Cretaceous (kriːˈteɪʃəs, usually abbreviated 'K' for its German translation "Kreide" is a geologic period and system, reaching from the end of During the Cenozoic Era the chalk was uplifted, and was later eroded to form the dramatic cliffs of the Sussex coast. The Cenozoic (also Caenozoic or Cainozoic) Era (ˌsiːnəˈzoʊɪk/ /ˌsɛn- (meaning "new life" ( Greek ( kainos) "new" The Geology of England is mainly sedimentary. The youngest rocks are in the south east around London, progressing in age in a north westerly

Some of the cliffs were lost in 2001 when, after a winter of heavy rains, a chalk pinnacle known as the Devil's Chimney, collapsed into the sea.

The name Beachy Head appears as 'Beauchef' in 1274, and was Beaucheif in 1317, becoming consistently Beachy Head by 1724, and has nothing to do with beach. Instead it is a corruption of the original French words meaning Beautiful Headland. ^[1]

The prominence of Beachy Head has made it a landmark for sailors in the English Channel. It is noted as such in the sea shanty "Spanish Ladies" :

The first land we sighted was called the Dodman,

Next Rame Head off Plymouth, off Portsmouth the Wight;

We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover,

And then we bore up for the South Foreland light. Sea shanties (singular " shanty " also spelled " chantey " derived from the French word "chanter" 'to sing' were Shipboard Spanish Ladies is a traditional English Sea shanty, describing a voyage from Spain to The Downs. See also Dodman Point, a landmark near Mevagissey, Cornwall. A dodman (plural " dodmen " or a See Rame Head Victoria for that place in Australia (named after Rame Head Cornwall Plymouth ( is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England about south west of London. History See also History of Portsmouth There have been settlements in the area since before Roman times mostly being offshoots of Portchester, which The Isle of Wight is an English Island and county in the English Channel between three and five miles (8 km from the south coast of the Fairlight Glen lies about two miles (3 km east of the fishing port of Hastings and west of the small village of Fairlight Cove on the East Sussex coast The white cliffs of Dover are Cliffs which form part of the British coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. North Foreland and South Foreland are two Chalk headlands on the east Kent coast of southern England.

Lighthouses

The headland was also a danger to shipping. In 1831 the construction of Belle Tout lighthouse was started on the next headland west from Beachy Head, but it did not become operational until 1834. The Belle Tout lighthouse (also spelled Belle Toute lighthouse) is a decommissioned Lighthouse and famous British landmark located at Beachy Head, Because its light could not be seen in mist and low cloud, it was superseded by a newer lighthouse, 43 m in height, built in the sea below Beachy Head and operational from October 1902. ^[1] Until the lighthouse was fully automated in 1983, the red and white striped tower was manned by three lighthouse keepers. Their job was to maintain the light that rotated two white flashes every 20 seconds, 26 miles out to sea. Belle Tout lighthouse was moved more than 17 m (50 ft) further inland in March 1999 due to cliff erosion. Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind ^[2]

Beachy Head at war

The third day of fighting in the Battle of Portland, 1653, took place off Beachy Head during the First Anglo-Dutch War. The naval Battle of Portland, or Three Days' Battle took place during 28 February - 2 March, 1653 ( Old style) during the The First Anglo–Dutch War (Eerste Engelse Zeeoorlog (1652–54 (called the First Dutch War in England and the First English Sea-War in the Netherlands was The Battle of Beachy Head, 1690, was a naval engagement during the Nine Years' War. The Battle of Beachy Head (also known as the Battle of Bévéziers) was a naval engagement fought on 10 July 1690 during the Nine Years' War. The Nine Years' War (1688–97 – often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg – was a major war of the late 17th During World War II, the RAF established a forward relay station at Beachy Head to improve radio communications with aircraft. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including In 1942, signals were picked up at Beachy Head which were identified as TV transmissions from the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel /tuʀ ɛfɛl/ is an Iron Tower built The Germans had reactivated the pre-war TV transmitter and instituted a Franco-German service for military hospitals and VIPs in the Paris region. The RAF monitored these programmes hoping (in vain) to gather intelligence from newsreels. ^[3] There was also an important wartime radar station in the area and, during the Cold War, a radar control centre was operational in an underground bunker from 1953 to 1957. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the ^[1]

Tourism

West from Belle Tout, the cliffs drop down to Birling Gap, and beyond that the Seven Sisters. East Dean and Friston is a Civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The Seven Sisters are a series of Chalk cliffs by the English Channel. The whole area is a popular tourist attraction, and Birling Gap has a restaurant and, in the summer, multiple ice cream vans.

Suicide

Since the 1600s Beachy Head has been notorious as a location for people to attempt suicide, estimated at 20 each year. ^[4] There are regular day and evening patrols by the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team, and a special telephone box with a direct line to The Samaritans. After a steady increase in deaths between 2002 and 2005, there was a marked decrease in 2006 with only seven fatalities, a reduction attributed by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to the actions of the Chaplaincy Team and local media^[5].

In Popular Culture

Beachy Head is also famous in film. In the 1979 film Quadrophenia, the character Jimmy intends to ride off the chalk cliff top on a Vespa belonging to a gang leader known as ‘Ace Face’. Quadrophenia is a 1979 British Film based on the 1973 Rock opera album Quadrophenia by The Who. This page is very closely monitored and additions of external links if not discussed first are removed quickly However, this results only in the scooter colliding with the rocks at the base of the cliff.

Industrial group Throbbing Gristle frontman Genesis P. Orridge's mother had asked him why he never did anything nice, and as a result the band dressed smartly and posed on Beachy Head for the cover photo of 20 Jazz Funk Greats. Throbbing Gristle are a British Avant-garde music and Visual arts group that evolved from the Performance art group COUM Transmissions "Neil Megson" redirects here For the soccer player see Neil Megson (soccer. 20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third full-length album by Industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle.

• The videos for "Close to Me" and "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure are both shot at Beachy Head. A music video is a Short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music most commonly a Song with lyrics " Just Like Heaven " is a song by the British Alternative rock band The Cure. The Cure are an English rock band that formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976

In the final episode of Little Britain, there is a scene with Andy Pipkin which was filmed at Beachy Head. Little Britain is a character-based comedy Sketch show first appearing on BBC radio and then television Louis 'Lou' Bob Todd and Andrew 'Andy' Pipkin are Fictional characters from the cult BBC TV and radio show Little Britain, played

The group Black Box Recorder's album England Made Me features pictures of Beachy Head in the CD booklet, and it is mentioned in the last song of the album, "Hated Sunday". Black Box Recorder are an English pop /indie group. They debuted in 1998 with England Made Me, a collection of lyrically sophisticated England Made Me is a 1998 Album by Black Box Recorder, whose members include Luke Haines.

The Belle Tout lighthouse was the inspiration for the lighthouse in Catherine Storr's children's story Marianne Dreams. Marianne Dreams is a children's Fantasy Novel by Catherine Storr. In the novel's sequel, Marianne and Mark the two main characters walk accross Beachy Head and visit the real Bell Tout. Marianne and Mark (1960 is a novel for children by Catherine Storr.

In the episode Many Happy Returns from the TV series The Prisoner, Number 6 comes ashore at Beachy Head after 'escaping' from The Village. The Prisoner is an allegorical British 1960s Science fiction television series starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan. The Village is the fictional setting of the 1960s UK television series The Prisoner, where the main character Number Six, was interned

In the episode The Girl Who Was Death from the TV series The Prisoner, Number 6 confronts Death and her insane scientist father Schnipps in the Beachy Head lighthouse (doubling as a missile) in which the lighthouse/missile is blown up. "The Girl Who Was Death" is a Television episode of the British Science fiction - allegorical series The Prisoner The Prisoner is an allegorical British 1960s Science fiction television series starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan. Number Six, the central Fictional character in the 1960s television series The Prisoner, is played by Patrick McGoohan. Justine Lord (b Justine Schooling 1938 Sevenoaks, Kent is a British actress active on Television throughout the 1960s Kenneth Griffith ( October 12 1921 &ndash June 25 2006) was a Welsh actor and documentary film-maker

Footage of Beachy Head was specially filmed and imcorporated into effects shots to create exterior shots of the Qudditch World Cup stadium in the Film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Quidditch is a fictional sport developed by J K Rowling for the Harry Potter book series

References

Images of Beachy Head

Lighthouse at Beachy Head.	Beachy Head and lighthouse.	Flowers laid at the cliff edge.	Close up of Beachy Head lighthouse.
Top of lighthouse, detail.	Seven Sisters, with Beachy Head in the distance.	Image of the Belle Tout lighthouse.

External links

• Beachy Head - a page from Eastbourne's official website
• Beachy Head walk to East Dean
• Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team
• The Belle Toute Lighthouse Preservation Trust An organisation being formed to purchase and maintain the Belle Toute lighthouse as well as open it to the public