A potent symbol of seafaring life in Sussex for 100 years, the Beachy Head lighthouse celebrates its centenary of service to the mariner tomorrow.

With its red-and-white painted granite, the lighthouse is in rude health 100 years on.

It has been buffeted by Force 10 gales, has withstood atrocious seafaring conditions but still maintained its duty to safely guide vessels off the coast near Eastbourne.

Nestled beneath the spectacular and notorious 500ft chalk cliffs of Beachy Head, the lighthouse remains an important aid for navigators.

Designed by Sir Thomas Matthews, it was the last rock lighthouse built by Essex-based Trinity House, which oversees the running of 72 lighthouses nationwide.

Construction took two years and involved the building of an aerial cableway and coffer-dam for the 3,660 tons of Cornish granite to be lowered from the world-famous cliffs.

The pre-formed granite-blocks had been cut to shape in a quarry and brought by train to Eastbourne.

It was said the spectacle of massive blocks being transported through on trailers pulled by traction engines was much enjoyed by the community.

When finished, the lighthouse was lit with a paraffin vapour burner, known as a PVB, which took up to 15 minutes to light.

The PVB and explosive fog signal remained in operation at the tower until 1975 when electricity was eventually provided via a cliff-top cable.

Up until then the keepers had used paraffin for domestic lighting.

The only electricity was a battery charged by a windmill generator on the gallery and used to run a television.

The stench of paraffin dominated the tower and the keepers' clothes when they arrived home.

However, less than a decade after electricity was installed, the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation.

Its three keepers finally left on July 28, 1983, ending an era only now remembered through the archives.

They reveal how during wartime its keepers had a narrow escape when a mine drifted within three feet of the lighthouse.

Without any guns to sink the mine, naval authorities advised the keepers to "just standby" as it drifted perilously close.

Principal keeper Reginald Simon wrote: "It continued to drift and in a few minutes it passed with no more than three feet to spare.

"As it headed for the shore, it struck a rock and exploded, blackening the cliff to the very top. I sometimes wonder what would've happened to the tower, and to us, if it had struck."

The keepers' often peaceful existence could be jarred, however, by the discovery of bodies of people who had committed suicide.

It became an unhappy and unofficial duty for them to inform Eastbourne police of suspected suicides from the cliffs.

Today the lighthouse provides a waymark for vessels navigating in the Channel and a landfall mark for Newhaven port.

Its 100,000-candle power light flashes twice every 20 seconds over a 20-mile range, while a fog signal sounds during poor visibility.

Owners Trinity House were also behind another nationally-famous lighthouse at Beachy Head, Belle Tout on top of the cliffs.

They commissioned Belle Tout in 1828 before its abandonment in 1899 because it was frequently obscured by cloud.

It has enjoyed a more public standing than the Beachy Head lighthouse, being used as a location for the BBC's 1999 drama series The Life And Loves Of A She Devil.

It gained added popularity when it featured on the Beeb's Changing Rooms series.

Its owner, Mark Roberts, swapped homes with disgraced Eastbourne Borough Council chief executive Sari Conway, sacked last year for gross misconduct.

But for many it is the Beachy Head lighthouse that holds more allure, attracting thousands of visitors to the downland each year.

Walkers along the beauty spot often gaze out at the waves lapping at the lighthouse's base, hoping that it will remain for yet another 100 years.