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Eastbourne pier
eastbourne stationNow you see it, now you don't
This seemingly nondescript lighthouse nearby to the more dramatic one has, in point of fact, a history as eye-popping as the other is scenic.
This is the Belle Tout Lighthouse but all is not as it seems. It used to be elsewhere, 55ft elsewhere, as in closer to the edge but, in 1999, in a remarkable feat of engineering it was moved to its present location.
The reason? Well, those cliffs, the highest of their type in Britain at 530ft, are not as stable as they first appear. Think chalk, think what water does to chalk. You get the picture.
Anyhow, this became a private residence after Beachy was built but then became a derelict ruin after the Second World War before it was eventually restored and moved.
You may have wondered why they would have built another one when the original was working perfectly. Well, it has a whole lot to do with actually seeing Belle Tout. Remember that thing that England is famous for. Fogs. At over 170 metres up you couldn't see the thing. Enter Beachy Head Lighthouse.
