A network of flaming tributes to the Queen will stretch throughout the country on Thursday.

Beacons marking the Platinum Jubilee will be lit at 9.45pm 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.

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.

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.


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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:

  • A free-standing beacon fuelled by bottle gas
  • A beacon brazier with a metal shield
  • A bonfire beacon
  • Bishops Frome Strawman

Platinum Jubilee beacons in North Yorkshire

York Press: Lewis Wilde tests of one of the gas-fuelled beacons he has made which will be used to signal the start of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. Picture: PALewis Wilde tests of one of the gas-fuelled beacons he has made which will be used to signal the start of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. Picture: PA

  • Bolton Abbey
  • Tan Hill Inn
  • Pickering Castle (English Heritage)
  • Richmond Castle (English Heritage)
  • Scarborough Castle (English Heritage)
  • Spofforth Castle Easingwold Town Council
  • Hauxwell Hall, Leyburn
  • Ripon Community Poppy Project – Ripon Market Square, Ripon
  • Hellifield Parish Council – Hellifield Haw
  • Riccall Parish Council – Riccall Park, Riccall
  • Barlby and Osgodby Town Council – Wainhomes Playing Field
  • Burton in Lonsdale Parish Council
  • West Tanfield Village – West Tanfield
  • St George the Martyr Church, Scackleton, Ryedale
  • Eskdaleside cum Ugglebarnby Parish Council – Sleights Moor
  • Ripon Community Poppy Project, Ripon
  • Kirk Smeaton and Little Smeaton Community Event Club
  • Giggleswick Parish Council
  • The Police Treatments Centre, St Andrews, Harrogate
  • Carthorpe Parish Council – Carthorpe, Bedale
  • Askham Richard Parish Council – Askham Richard Village Green, Askham Richard
  • Woodhouse Farm Caravan Park – Winksley, Ripon
  • Upper and Nether Poppleton – Village Green, Upper Poppleton
  • Middlesbrough – Middlesbrough Town Hall Courtyard, Middlesbrough
  • Crayke Parish Council, Hambleton
  • West Middleton Farm – Hutton Magna, Richmond
  • Langthorpe Parish Council – Lower Grange, Langthorpe, Boroughbridge
  • Arkengarthdale Parish Council
  • Danby Beacon Trust – Danby Beacon, Danby Moor, Danby, Whitby
  • Romanby Parish Council – Romanby Memorial Garden, Romanby
  • North Ferriby Parish Council – Riverside Walk, North Ferriby
  • Acaster Malbis Parish Council – Acaster Malbis, York
  • Langthorpe Parish Council – Lower Grange, Langthorpe, Boroughbridge
  • Crakehall with Langthorne Parish Council – The Green, Crakehall, Bedale
  • CMJ Events – York Spring Fair @ Food Festival – York Racecourse, York
  • Tadcaster Town Council – Crossing between Leeds Road and Garnet Lane, Tadcaster
  • Lawkland Parish Meeting, Giggleswick
  • Sherburn Parish Council – White Gate, Sherburn
  • Langthorne Support Group – Langthorne, Bedale
  • Elvington Parish Council – The Green, Elvington
  • CMJ Events – York Spring Fair & Food Festival, The Clocktower Enclosure, Your Racecourse, York
  • Copmanthorpe Parish Council – Memorial Green, Copmanthorpe, York
  • Newsham Village Hall Community Association – Village Green, Newsham, Richmond
  • Hackforth Parish Council – Millennium Green, Hackforth, Bedale
  • Cowling Parish Council – Cowling Pinnacle, Cowling
  • Monk Fryston Parish Council – St Wilfrid's Churcyard, Monk Fryston
  • Carperby cum Thoresby Parish Council
  • North Rigton Parish Council – Almscliffe Crag, North Rigton
  • Wistow Parish Council, Wistow
  • Filey Town Council & Filey Lions Club – Carr Naze Country Park
  • Bugthorpe War Memorial Hall – Bugthorpe, York
  • Ayton Jubilee Committee – Castle Fields, West Ayton
  • Brompton-on-Swale Parish Council – Brompton-on-Swale Sports Field, Brompton-on-Swale
  • West Grange Farm – Thorganby Village Hall, Thorganby
  • Richmondshire County Council – Arklow Hill, Thornton Steward, Ripon
  • Grassington Jubilee Group – Moor Lane, Grassington, Skipton
  • Settringham Village – High Street, Settringham, Malton
  • Bentham Town Council – Burnmoor, Bentham
  • The Army Foundation College Harrogate - Uniacke Barracks, Harrogate
  • Cayton Parish Council – (Beacon and Lantern Procession), Green Belt Land of West Garth, Cayton
  • Kirkby Malzeard, Laverton and Dallowgill Parish Council – Greygarth Monument, Dallowgill
  • Coniston Cold Parish Council – Richard Tottie Memorial Hall, Coniston Cold, Skipton
  • Kirklevington and Castlelevington Parish Council – St Martin's Green, Kirklevington
  • Make It York – Library Lawn, York Explore, Library Square, York
  • Masons Campsite, Ainhams, Appletreewick, Skipton
  • Ingleton Parish Council and Ingleton Rural Comminity Association – one on Sumit of Ingleborough and the other on Ingleton Sports Field
  • Riseborough Hall, Riseborough, Pickering
  • Masham Parish Council – Roomer Common, Masham. Great Ayton Parish Council – Captain Cook's Memorial, Gribdale, Great Ayton