About Beachy Head

The name Beachy Head has nothing to do with a beach, but is in fact a corruption of the original French words Beauchef (13th Century) and Beaucheif (14th Century) meaning ‘beautiful head(land)’.

In 1929 Eastbourne bought 4,000 acres (16 km2) of land surrounding Beachy Head at a cost of about £100,000. This investment has saved Beachy Head and the surrounding Downland from development and has led to it becoming a part of the new South Downs National Park.

Beachy Head is 530 ft (162m) above sea level and is the highest chalk sea cliff in the UK.

The cliff faces southward and is subjected to fierce gales and erosion from the sea. The constant erosion of the old chalk face helps to maintain the whiteness of the cliffs by revealing the clean white chalk underneath.

Parts of the cliffs are eroding up to a metre every year. Record falls were recorded in January 1999 caused by unusually heavy rain and large waves and believed to be the biggest sudden loss of British coastline in recent years. A further major landslide in April 2001 destroyed the well known local landmark known as the Devils Chimney.

Beachy Head Lighthouse

The present Lighthouse is 43m high, is located about 165m seawards of the cliffs and entered operation in October 1902. It had taken two years to complete and involved building a coffer-dam and a cableway from the top of the cliffs to carry materials, including 3660 tons of Cornish granite, down to the site. Pictures and information about this remarkable feat of engineering can be seen at the Beachy Head Countryside Centre.

The Light flashes twice every 20 seconds and can be seen up to 26 miles (42km) out to sea. For over 80 years the Light was permanently manned by 3 Lighthouse Keepers, but it was fully automated and de-manned in June 1983. It is now monitored 24 hours a day from the Trinity House Operations Control Centre at Harwich in Essex.

Belle Tout Lighthouse

Beachy Head has been, and still is, a prominent landmark for sailors passing through the English Channel but it has also been a danger to shipping.

It is said that as early as 1670 a light shone to guide passing vessels from the top of the cliffs, but it wasn’t until 1828 that James Walker erected the Belle Tout Lighthouse, a 14 metre high circular tower, on the headland.

Unfortunately the Belle Tout Lighthouse was frequently shrouded in mist and was constantly threatened with collapse as a result of falls of chalk from the cliff.

Belle Tout was finally abandoned as a lighthouse in 1899, although it has had several changes of ownership and use since that time including a period during the Second World War when it was used by Canadian Troops for target practice!

The Lighthouse came to prominence again in the 1980’s when it was featured in a BBC television series of the adaptation of Fay Weldon’s “Life and Loves of a She Devil”.

The Belle Tout Lighthouse is still standing, but as result of continual cliff erosion it was moved and relocated 15m inland in March 1999.

Shipwrecks and Parson Darby

The waters between Rye and Newhaven are located in the narrowest section of the English Channel which itself is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the volume of traffic passing through these waters also resulted in many collisions.

Although most wrecks were as a result of navigational errors or poor weather, there are stories of people deliberately luring vessels to the shore.

Lanterns would be tied to grazing livestock, could be seen well out to sea and easily mistaken for the lights of another vessel.

On a dark night, and in poor visibility, the light could be interpreted as meaning that the area between the struggling ship and the light (of what they thought was another ship) indicated an area of ‘safe’ water. By the time they recognised the looming land mass, it was usually too late and they ran aground.

How much active wrecking was done by local people is unknown, but the resulting salvage was certainly seen as a good source of income by many.

Jonathon Darby was Parson of East Dean in the late 17th century and his duties included the burial of bodies washed up from ship wrecks.

He realised that a fixed light could be a reliable warning to sailors of the coast, so he set about excavating ‘Parson Darby’s Hole’ near to Belle Tout, creating a chimney that led up from the coast and ledges where he could set lights on stormy nights. It has been said that Parson Darby created his ‘Hole’ to escape the tongue of his wife, but he often spent nights here watching the sea, and there is little doubt that this resulted in many lives being saved.

Parson Darby died in 1729 and is buried in Friston churchyard with the epitaph ‘Sailors Friend’ on his gravestone.

Smuggling

Birling Gap and Crowlink provided easy access to the sea for East Sussex gangs from Alfriston, Jevington and farther inland to haul contraband from their beached ships.

Crowlink gave its’ name to an illicit brandy that entered England here and, in a period when contraband goods could be legally sold over the bar, some landlords chalked ‘Genuine Crowlink’ on the barrels to indicate its’ good quality..

Local gangs included one based in Jevington led by James Pettit (‘Jevington Jigg’). Jevington Jigg’s gang offloaded at Birling Gap and Crowlink, and transported the contraband to Jevington where it was stored in the cellars of the Rectory and the inn.

Another gang led by Stanton Collins was based in Alfriston in Market Cross House (now Ye Olde Smugglers Inn). Market Cross House had a maze of passages and doors making it easier to escape the unwelcome attentions of the customs men who suspected that they were aided and abetted by at least some of the Alfriston inhabitants.

Smuggling was highly profitable and the gangs were not averse to using violence to protect their operations. The Stanton Collins gang reputedly caused the death of a customs man while he was on patrol at Cuckmere Haven. The gang moved pieces of chalk that the officer used as way-markers for night patrols along the cliff-edge to divert him from the safety of the coastal path and over the cliff edge.

This gang only broke up when Stanton Collins was transported for seven years for stealing sheep.

The Wars

Beachy Head was the scene of two major naval engagements in the 17th Century.

In 1653, the third day of fighting in the Battle of Portland took place off Beachy Head during the First Anglo-Dutch War, and in 1690 the Battle of Beachy Head took place during the Nine Years' War.

During World War II, the RAF established a forward relay station at Beachy Head to improve radio communications with aircraft. Enemy aircraft were frequently engaged over and around Beachy Head en route to or from raids on London and the South.

There was also an important wartime radar station in the area and between 1952 and 1957, during the Cold War, a radar control centre was operational in an underground bunker.