Queen's Platinum Jubilee: Beacons lit in Herefordshire

DOZENS of beacons have been lit across Herefordshire to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

There were thousands more also lit across the country and the Commonwealth to mark the Queen's 70th year on the throne.

Most were lit at 9.45pm, including at the Tower of London, Windsor Great Park, Hillsborough Castle and the Queen’s estates of Sandringham and Balmoral, along with the tops of the UK’s four highest peaks.

The first beacons were it in Tonga and Samoa in the South Pacific, and the final one in the central American country of Belize.

The principal beacon outside the Palace – a 21-metre-tall Tree of Trees sculpture for the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative – was lit by a senior member of the royal family, and images were projected onto the Palace.

The history of Jubilee beacons

Lighting beacons to celebrate Royal Jubilees, Weddings and Coronations is a long-held tradition.

The flaming displays might appear on top of mountains, church and cathedral towers, castle battlements, on town and village greens, country estates, parks and farms, along beaches and on cliff tops.

In 1897, beacons were lit to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. In 1977, 2002 and 2012, beacons commemorated the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees of The Queen, and in 2016 Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.

Beacons in Herefordshire

There were a number of beacons lit across the county, including a strawman at Bishop's Frome near Bromyard, and more traditional beacons at Churchill Gardens in Hereford and The Prospect in Ross-on-Wye.

Here are pictures from around the county:

Alison Vaughan shared this picture of Mordiford's beacon and said they could see 12 others in the distance

Nikiler Dolly Blatchford said she had a wonderful time at Burton Court in Eardisland

Aimie Dennis went to see Thornbury's beacon being lit

Simon Bear Addison played the bagpipes at Ross-on-Wye's beacon lighting

Michael Perruzza took a picture at Pyons Group's beacon at Westhope Common

Nicola Tisdale took a photo of the beacon and fireworks at Gatley, Aymestry

Emily Addis was at the lighting of Wellington's beacon

The beacon was lit by the mayor in Hay-on-Wye in Memorial Square