Eastbourne Lighthouse
In 1883 the Eastbourne Lighthouse was built on the rocks below Beachy Head. The family of my G-G-Grandfather, Thomas Boniface, (Old Tom), helped in the construction of the elegant lighthouse. Most of the fishermen were very grateful to have the extra work, for there was no unemployment benefit in those days, and in any case, fishermen were classified as ‘Master Men’ and never did draw poor-relief or other benefits.
They joined in this stupendous operation which was a remarkable engineering feat for those days, when the whole of the stone and other materials was brought by cart from Maidstone in Kent and conveyed from the top of Beachy Head cliffs by an ‘aerial railway’ – a kind of pulley-construction.
In days gone by, when the sea was not too rough, they were able to land the Boniface Boats at the base of the lighthouse, climb onto the building and up the steep stairs to the lamp-room at the very top of the edifice to see how the gleaming, powerful lamps worked. One could imagine how the powerful beams would shine out over the water lighting up the very dangerous rocks and the sea beyond.
In the summer of 2000 a very large portion of the white cliffs broke away and crashed onto the shore and sea below, right up to the base of the lighthouse. Now it's possible to walk to the lighthouse from the shore.