Beachy Head Lighthouse is located below the cliffs of Beachy Head in East Sussex it stands 141ft high and became operational in October 1902. It was the last traditional-style rock tower offshore lighthouse built by Trinity House.
Eastbourne seafront first thing in the morning before the beach wakes up.
Eastbourne is a seaside resort town on England’s southeast coast it is about 2 hours from London. On the seafront are Victorian hotels, and the 19th-century Eastbourne Pier. West along the coast, in South Downs National Park, are the tall chalk cliffs of Beachy Head and its striped lighthouse.
The Eastbourne Pier Company Ltd was formed in 1865. Work started on the structure in1866. Lord Edward Cavendish officially opened the pier, designed by Eugenius Birch, in June 1870. However, work on the 1000-foot pier, the landing stage, kiosk and windbreak were finally completed in 1872.
The beach is popular but 1st thing in the morning it is quiet with only a few dog walkers and runners.
A coastal hamlet nestled between the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head is Birling Gap a place where you can get down to the beach via a stairway. The area is managed by the National Trust above the beach is a visitor centre car park and a cafe.
Eight cottages were built at Birling Gap for the Coastguard in 1878. Today only 3 remain in 1973 due to the eroding cliff, one of the cottages was demolished again in 1994 another cottage was demolished. 2002 and 2014 lead to the loss of 2 more homes!
This is the first time I visited the gap when the tide was out. You can access the beach via a staircase.
Seven Sister – is what the cliffs are known to the west of the gap.
The cliffs to the east.
A view of the gap in the 1920s from an old postcard showing the row of coastguard cottages and coastguard rocket house.
Dungeness Lifeboat Station has a Shannon class lifeboat. The Morrell was named on 31 May 2014 by HRH Princess Royal. In 1940, the Dungeness lifeboat was one of 19 that took part in the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk in northern France. We were lucky to see the lifeboat out of the lifeboat house when we visited as she had just had a wash and was drying in the sunshine.
EDIT.
I have edited and added the launching tractor of a Shannon class lifeboat at Hastings just along the coast I filmed in 2018
Saved by public outcry in 1975 from demolition Northington Grange, near Winchester in Hampshire, is a fine example of Greek Revival architecture. The mansion owes its present appearance to the architect William Wilkins, who, between 1809 and 1816, transformed a modest 17th-century building into something that looked like an Ancient Greek temple. Wilkins wrapped the brick house in cement, he also added classical façades, including the striking temple front supported on eight gigantic columns.
Today the Grange is used as a wedding venue and a venue for operas. The outside and some of the grounds of the mansion are open to visit and in the care of English Heritage.
On this visit the 1st since last year there were silhouettes in the fields around the edge of the acsess area (these fields were parts of the original estate). The site is not staffed and their were no information boards to explain why they had been placed on site. They seem to reflect victorian rural life.
Timeslip, Solent Spitfires.
Spitfire at Solent Airport. Lee on Solent Hampshire.
Solent airport’s origins date back to the First World War. In 1917 it was established as Royal Naval Air Station Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus). Its first role was as a seaplane training base. During the Second World War a number of Naval Air Squadrons were posted or formed at Daedalus.
In 2006, whilst undertaking repairs to the runway, repair crews discovered an unexploded pipe bomb, which was over 60 feet long, placed underneath the runway during the war and was designed to destroy the runway of the airfield in the event of a German invasion. The pipe bomb and 19 others were subsequently safely removed.
Today Solent airport is a civil airport and the base for the Solents search and rescue helicopter.
Titchfield Abbey.
The Abbey of St Mary and St John the Evangelist was founded in 1231/2. At the Suppression of the Monasteries the abbey was granted in 1537 to Thomas Wriothesley, later 1st Earl of Southampton. He remodelled the abbey into a palace. Over the years Royal guests at the house included Edward VI, Elizabeth I and Charles I.
Thomas Wriothesley’s grandson Henry, 3rd Earl of Southampton, was a friend of William Shakespeare and it is said that some of Shakespeare’s plays were performed at Titchfield Abbey for the first time.
On the death of Henry, the palace passed through several families. Around 1781 in disrepair, most of the building was demolished for its building stone. Today the ruin is a scheduled monument in the care of English heritage.
Medieval Floor tiles the tiles were covered up by the courtyard of the palace house, where they lay preserved for over 400 years. They were rediscovered during excavations in 1923. They are covered up over winter by English Heritage to protect them from the weather.
Tintern Abbey was founded in 1131 by Cistercian monks, standing on the banks of the River Wye is now a romantic ruin and is a natural place to stop if you are traveling into Wales via the old Severn Bridge and heading for the A40. We stop here for the toilet and a cup of tea on most trips into Wales.
Coal mining in Wales is an industry of the past and the scars of mining litter the landscape. The black seams of coal became too expensive to mine and carbon-based fuel lost favor as a form of energy. Big Pit today is the National Coal Museum of Wales. The pit was a working coal mine from 1880 to1980. Big Pit is part of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape a World Heritage site.
Big Pit has a depth of 300ft – underground tours are available which I have done in the past but due to covid, I decided to stay in the open air on this visit. At its peak in 1923, this one mine employed 1,399 in coal production.
Lockers and Shower block.
Restored locomotive being returned to the museum site.
Some facts:- In 1913, 232,000 men worked in 620 mines. The largest number of men ever to work in the Welsh coal mines was 271,000 in 1920.
Continued Reflections from my World. 