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Beachy Head is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 m (530 ft) above sea level. The peak allows views of the south east coast from Dungeness to the east, to Selsey Bill in the west. Its height has also made it a notorious suicide spot.
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Geology
The chalk was formed in the Cretaceous period when the area was under the sea, 65 million years ago and earlier. During the Cenozoic Era the chalk was uplifted, and was later eroded to form the dramatic cliffs of the Sussex coast (see Geology of England#Cenozoic Era).
The cliffs are constantly being eroded by the sea; a particularly dramatic collapse came in 2001 when, after a winter of heavy rains, a chalk pinnacle known as the Devil's Chimney collapsed into the sea.
History
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]
In 1929 Eastbourne bought 4,000 acres (16 km2) of land surrounding Beachy Head to save it from development, costing the town around £100,000.[2]
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.
The ashes of German communist writer and philosopher, Friedrich Engels were scattered off the Beachy Head cliffs down the English Channel waters, in 1895.
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. Because its light could not be seen in mist and low cloud, it was superseded by a newer lighthouse, 43 m in height, built in the sea below Beachy Head and operational from October 1902.[1] Until the lighthouse was fully automated in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, visible 26 miles (42 km) out to sea. Belle Tout lighthouse was moved more than 50 feet (15 m) further inland in March 1999 due to cliff erosion.[4]
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 Battle of Beachy Head, 1690, was a naval engagement 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. In 1942, signals were picked up at Beachy Head which were identified as TV transmissions from the Eiffel Tower. 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.[5] 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.[1]
Tourism
West from Belle Tout, the cliffs drop down to Birling Gap, and beyond that the Seven Sisters. 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.[6] 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[7]. During a recovery effort in 2008, a British coastguard crew were nearly crushed by a second suicide in progress when someone drove off the cliff and narrowly missed rescuers.[8]
References
- ^ a b c Surtees, Dr John (1997). Beachy Head. Seaford: SB Publications. ISBN 1 85770 118 6.
- ^ Times, October 30, 1929. P. 11
- ^ Palmer, Roy (1986). The Oxford Book of Sea Songs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192141597.
- ^ 'The 28 ft (8.5 m) move that took a day', The Argus (18 March 1999).
- ^ Ockenden, Michael (April 1983). 'TV Pictures from Occupied Paris'. After the Battle (Battle of Britain Prints International) (39).
- ^ BBC - Beachy Head, Suicide Spot accessed 01/01/08
- ^ Coastguard agency
- ^ Driver Nearly Crushes Rescuers Trying to Recover Another Jumper at 'Suicide' Cliff accessed 28/08/08
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
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Beachy Head |
- 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
Article is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from Wikipedia.org Original article is here.
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