Historic lighthouse bought by overseas investor

9:38am Saturday 15th March 2008

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One of Sussex's most famous landmarks has been sold to an overseas investor.

The Belle Toute lighthouse holds a commanding position on the cliffs near Beachy Head.

The 175-year-old Grade II-listed building was sold for an undisclosed sum, believed to be around £500,000, to a foreign buyer yesterday*Mar14*.

A spokesman for Lewes estate agents Strutt and Parker, which oversaw the sale, said the buyer had "good local knowledge" and said a family member of the buyer's would live there.

The building was last purchased amid controversy in 1996 when Eastbourne Borough Council sold it to the wife of one of its councillors.

Louise Roberts and her husband Mark bought the freehold for around £900 and paid around £200,000 for the leasehold for the site.

The sale was criticised by councillors who questioned if the council was allowed to sell the lighthouse, which was bequeathed to Eastbourne by one of its previous owners, Sir James Purves-Stewart, in 1948.

In 1999 the 850-tonne building had to be moved 17 metres back from the edge of the cliff after erosion threatened its survival.

The operation was overseen by engineers Abbey Pynford and cost £350,000.

In 2007, the Roberts family put the lighthouse up for sale with a guide price of £850,000 but this was eventually knocked down to £595,000 in January, shortly before the winning offer was made.

In September last year, the Belle Toute Lighthouse Preservation Trust, which was set up to try and buy the lighthouse, was granted planning permission by the borough council to turn it into a bed and breakfast hotel.

The trust had launched a campaign to buy the building, seeking donations from the public and planned for it to be open to visitors and used as a location for community events.

Trustee Rob Wassell said: "I guess at the end of the day it wasn't meant to be.

"We are really happy for whoever has bought the lighthouse. It's a wonderful building and we hope that they are very happy living there."

Mr Wassell said the trust would now be dissolved but its website would remain as an information resource for anyone wanting to find out about the lighthouse.

The Belle Toute was built in 1832, replacing a wooden lighthouse on the dangerous stretch of Sussex coastline in 1828.

It was carefully placed so that its light was visible for 20 miles out to sea and would not be obscured by the edge of the cliff.

It was decommissioned in 1902 in favour of a new lighthouse at the base of the cliffs and in 1903 was sold by Trinity House after which it was sold on several times.

Surgeon Sir James Purves-Stewart bought it in 1923 and in 1948 he offered it to the borough council which took it over.

In 1986, it featured in the television drama The Life and Loves of a She Devil and was later used in the BBC's Changing Rooms show.

After several years and many different owners it was bought by Mark and Louise Roberts and used as a family home.

The Roberts family, who are believed to be planning to move to Australia, were not available when The Argus tried to contact them.