A network of flaming tributes to the Queen will stretch throughout the country on Thursday, including in South Gloucestershire.

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

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.

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

Gazette Series: Lewis Wilde tests one of the gas-fuelled beacons he has made which will be used to signal the start of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in June (Jane Barlow/PA)Lewis Wilde tests one of the gas-fuelled beacons he has made which will be used to signal the start of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in June (Jane Barlow/PA)

Platinum Jubilee beacons in South Gloucestershire

Badminton Estate

Chipping Sodbury Town Trust – The Ridings, Chipping Sodbury

Siston Parish Council – Siston Hill, Siston

Field Farm, Marshfield – Beeks Lane, Marshfield

Yate Town Council – Tylers Field, Yate, Bristol

Berkeley Castle Charitable Trust – Berkeley Castle

Patchway Town Council – Bristol BMX Club, Patchway

Pilning & Severn Beach Parish Council – The Foreshore, Severn Beach