Beachy Head — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Beachy Head, the loftiest headland on the south coast of England, projecting into the English Channel, $3\frac{1}{2}$ miles SSW. of Eastbourne, Sussex. It consists of perpendicular chalk-cliffs, 575 feet high, forming the east end of the South Downs. Several caverns have been cut out in the rock, for shipwrecked seamen to take refuge in; but shipwrecks have been far fewer since 1831, when the Belle Toute Lighthouse was built $2\frac{1}{2}$ miles to the west. This lighthouse is 285 feet above the sea, and is seen above 20 miles off. The view from Beachy Head, in clear weather, extends to Hastings, the Isle of Wight, and France. The cliffs are the resort of myriads of sea-fowl. Off this point, the French fleet, under Tourville, beat the combined English and Dutch fleets, under Torrington, 30th June 1690.