Beachy Head () is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne, East Sussex in the county of East Sussex. The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 metre (530 foot) above sea level. The peak allows views of the south east coast from Dungeness to the east, to Selsey Bill in the west.
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.''
It was also a danger to shipping. The famous Belle Tout lighthouse built in 1831 is located near the edge of the cliff on the next headland west from Beachy Head. It was moved more than 17 metre (50 foot) further inland in 1999 due to cliff erosion [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/specials/set99/298123.stm].
The lighthouse was superseded by the newer Beachy Head Lighthouse, 43m in height, built in the sea below in 1902.
West from Belle Tout, the cliffs drop down to Birling Gap, and beyond that the Seven_Sisters,_Sussex.
Beachy Head is notorious as a popular location for people to commit suicide.
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), 1690, was a naval engagement during the War of the Grand Alliance.
The chalk was formed in the Cretaceous era when the land was part of the sea bed. Over the 65 million years since then, continental drift has forced the chalk above water, forming the dramatic cliffs of the Sussex coast.
== External link ==
* [http://www.eastbourne.org/tourism/beachyhead/beachy_hf.htm Beachy Head] - a page from [http://www.eastbourne.org/ Eastbourne's official website]
Headlands of England
Cliffs
East Sussex
I was going to add something like this.. :"It is a very popular location to commit suicide." ::..but it looks a bit crass. Can anyone think of better wording? User:Mintguy 02:12 Feb 11, 2003 (UTC) :I've stuck something in, but its basically what you've written above with the word "notorious" inserted, which seems to soften the blow, as it were, at least a little. I'm not sure there's any delicate way to talk about suicide, though. --User:Camembert ::I live in Sussex and know of two people who commited suicide there. Someone once told me that they have an ambulance there all day on Christmas day as it's the most popular day to jump, but I don't know if this is true. I do know that a number of people have jumped from a spot which results in you landing on a ledge, where you will probably sustain some broken bones but are unlikely to die. User:Mintguy ---- As much as I like the picture just added. I'm not sure it's appropriate for this page. The cable-car thing looks too scary. LOL. User:Mintguy ---- Argh! Different sources now suggest 1828[http://www.johnmadjackfuller.homestead.com/index.html], 1831 (Beachy Head article), and 1832[http://216.122.217.223/b/megalab/movingbelle.htm] as the date of construction for the Belle Tout lighthouse! What's going on??? It may have taken more than a year to build, but can anyone find a reliable source for the period of construction? I'm not sure where to look, myself. -- User:Oliver Pereira 04:19 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC) ---- I visited the UK in 98/99 and I'm surprised there's no mention in this article of the terrific winds you get at Beachy head, nor of a part of it falling into the sea (I read that in the newspaper when I was over there). -- User:AleatoricConsonance ---- Hmm, bits of it fall into the sea all the time (which is why it remains white) I sort of mentioned this in downland hmmm --User:Davelane 17:48, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Beachy_Head:
Beachy_Head
Beachy_Head
Beachy Head
| ''Beachy Head lighthouse under construction'' |
Beachy Head
I was going to add something like this.. :"It is a very popular location to commit suicide." ::..but it looks a bit crass. Can anyone think of better wording? User:Mintguy 02:12 Feb 11, 2003 (UTC) :I've stuck something in, but its basically what you've written above with the word "notorious" inserted, which seems to soften the blow, as it were, at least a little. I'm not sure there's any delicate way to talk about suicide, though. --User:Camembert ::I live in Sussex and know of two people who commited suicide there. Someone once told me that they have an ambulance there all day on Christmas day as it's the most popular day to jump, but I don't know if this is true. I do know that a number of people have jumped from a spot which results in you landing on a ledge, where you will probably sustain some broken bones but are unlikely to die. User:Mintguy ---- As much as I like the picture just added. I'm not sure it's appropriate for this page. The cable-car thing looks too scary. LOL. User:Mintguy ---- Argh! Different sources now suggest 1828[http://www.johnmadjackfuller.homestead.com/index.html], 1831 (Beachy Head article), and 1832[http://216.122.217.223/b/megalab/movingbelle.htm] as the date of construction for the Belle Tout lighthouse! What's going on??? It may have taken more than a year to build, but can anyone find a reliable source for the period of construction? I'm not sure where to look, myself. -- User:Oliver Pereira 04:19 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC) ---- I visited the UK in 98/99 and I'm surprised there's no mention in this article of the terrific winds you get at Beachy head, nor of a part of it falling into the sea (I read that in the newspaper when I was over there). -- User:AleatoricConsonance ---- Hmm, bits of it fall into the sea all the time (which is why it remains white) I sort of mentioned this in downland hmmm --User:Davelane 17:48, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
B
BA | BC | BD | BE | BF | BG | BH | BI | BJ | BK | BL | BM | BN | BO | BP | BR | BS | BT | BU | BW | BX | BY | BZ |Words begining with Beachy_Head:
Beachy_Head
Beachy_Head
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