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

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

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

Platinum Jubilee beacons in Newport and Gwent

  • Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society – Twmbarlwm Hill Fort, above Risca.
  • Manmoel Welfare Association – The Domon, Manmoel Common, Manmoel.
  • Victory Church, Talywain, Pontypool
  • Newport City Council.
  • Shirenewton Community Council - Recreation Field, Shirenewton.
  • Gentleman Lunies – Three Words Locator, Llantilio Crossenny.
  • Portskewett Community Council – Sudbrook Camp, Sudbrook.
  • Newport City Council – Queen Elizabeth 11 Playing Fields, Ringland, Newport.
  • Llanthony Valley and District Show Society, Hatterall Hill, adjacent to Offa's Dyke Path.
  • Penhow Community Council – Seymour Park, Penhow, Newport.
  • Langstone Community Council in partnership with Llandevaud and Llanmartin Communities – Pencoed Castle.
  • Llanover, Abergavenny