The spark in our bonfire hearts

• Published in: Country life (London) pp. 160 - 162
• Main Author: Hobson, Jeremy
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bath Future Publishing Ltd 09.06.2021
• Subjects: Deities; United Kingdom > UK; England
• ISSN: 0045-8856

In order to indicate a landing spot safe from the attention of the customs and excise men, those waiting on shore often positioned a lantern in the mouth of a convenient cave. [...]placed, it could only be seen from the sea. Celtic bonfires sent messages to the gods requesting fruitful crops Beacons of hope * Greek mythology describes beacons being used to tell of the fall of Troy: according to Agamemnon, news of the city's defeat was transmitted from there to Argos-320 miles-in a single night * Beacons were placed around England's coastline on December 31, 1981, to signal the start of the English Tourist Board's Maritime England project. Beacons were used again in October 2005, in celebration of the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar * In 1995, beacons marked the 50th anniversary of VE Day, but any plans to commemorate the 75th anniversary, in May 2020, were thwarted * November 2018 saw 1,000 Beacons of Light lit throughout the UK and UK overseas territories in remembrance of the ending of the First World War, their purpose being to symbolise 'the light of hope' that 'emerged from the darkness of war' * Thanks to a 1920s revival, a sporadic chain of hilltop fires runs annually between Chapel Cam Brea, Cornwall, and the Tamar in Devon to mark Midsummer's Eve or St John's Eve