A network of flaming tributes to the Queen will stretch throughout the country on Thursday, including across Hertfordshire.

Beacons marking the Platinum Jubilee will be lit at 9.45 pm at sites including 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; Ben Nevis (Scotland), Mount Snowdon (Wales), Scafell Pike (England) and Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland).

The first beacons will be lit in Tonga and Samoa in the South Pacific, and the final one in the Central American country of Belize.

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The principal beacon outside the Palace – a 21-metre-tall Tree of Trees sculpture for the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative – will be illuminated by a senior member of the royal family, and images will be projected on to 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.

On Thursday, there are four types of beacons being lit:

  1. A free-standing beacon fuelled by bottled gas
  2. A beacon brazier with a metal shield
  3. A bonfire beacon
  4. Bishops Frome Strawman

 

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Platinum Jubilee beacons in Hertfordshire 

  •  Rose Garden opposite Three Rivers House, the headquarters of Three Rivers District Council
  • Hatfield House, British Camp.
  • Stevenage Borough Council.
  • Aldenham Parish Council – Salters Field, Cobden Hill, Radlett.
  • Watford Borough Council – Watford Museum, Watford.
  • Bovingdon Parish Council – Bovingdon Village Green, Bovingdon.
  • Wellington Village Queen's Platinum Jubilee Community Fun Day – Adzor Banks, Wellington Village.
  • Hammonds End Farm & 1st Harpenden Scouts – Hammonds End Farm, Harpenden.
  • Therfield & Kelshall Parish Council – Hitches Meadow, Therfield.
  • Bishop's Stortford Town Council – Castle Gardens, Bishop's Stortford.
  • Pirton Parish Council – Pirton.
  • Hertford Heath Parish Council – Hertford Heath Villand Green, Hertford.
  • Hertford Town Council – The Castle, Hertford.
  • Rose and Crown Public House.
  • Sarah de Rohan – Field next to House, Birley, Hereford.
  • Bringsty Common & Whitbourne and Brockhampton Parish Councils – Jubilee Hill, Bringsty Common, Worcester.
  • Dacorum Borough Council – Gadebridge Park, Hemel Hempstead.
  • Abbots Langley Parish Council – Manor House Recreation Ground, Abbots Langley.
  • Little Birch Parish Council – Castle Nibole Farm – Little Birch, Hereford Beacons London Borough of Barnet Council – St Mary The Virgin Monken Hadley (A historic Beacon site for 800 years. They have lit their Beacon on their Church Tower for all of Her Majesty The Queen's Jubilees).
  • North Hertfordshire District Council – Field bt Cricket Club, Weston Park, Weston, Hitchin.
  • Sawbridgeworth Town Council – Sayesbury Manor – Sawbridgeworth.
  • Broxbourne Borough Council – Lee Valley White Water Centre, Waltham Cross. Broxbourne Borough Council – Lee Valley White Water Centre, Waltham Cross.
  • Great Amwell with Margaret's Parochial Church Council – The Glebe Field.
  • Hitchin Bid – Roof of Waterstones Building, Market Place, Hitchin.
  • St Stephen Parish Council – Greenwood Park Community Centre, Chiswell Green, St Stephen.