THE IMPOSSIBLE dream came true yesterday.

Belle Tout lighthouse, the landmark which dominates Beachy Head, was finally saved from falling into the sea.

The move 50ft inland to safety began yesterday morning, the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year campaign by its owners, the Roberts family, to save it from a 285ft drop.

Rough weather, money problems and even nature itself seemed to be weighted against the project.

But yesterday the 165-year-old lighthouse started moving slowly along specially-built girders towards its new home.

It was expected to reach there by 8pm last night. But tools were downed soon after sunset as engineers tired at about the 28ft stage. Work is now due to end at about 8pm tonight.

During the day thousands of visitors walked along the clifftops to watch the move and enjoy the spring sunshine.

Louise Roberts was delighted her long wait was over. She said: "I turned 30 just a couple of days ago and this is the perfect birthday present.

"We are relieved that the work has started at last. It's a bit nerve-racking watching it move but a lot less worrying than it falling into the sea would be."

The move had been scheduled for the summer but a 25ft cliff fall last November left Belle Tout perched just 10ft from the edge.

Hundreds of media from as far afield as Japan and Germany were on the clifftop to report the move while groups of picnickers enjoyed the atmosphere.

The switch for the hydraulic pump was thrown at 9.25am by 93-year-old Joy Cullinan, who lived at Belle Tout between 1955 and 1980.

Mark and Louise, who moved in in 1996 and have since turned the lighthouse into a bed and breakfast, have had to raise the £250,000 for the move inland themselves.

Last summer the National Lottery refused to award a grant so the family dug into their savings and raised money through donations.

And to top all the pressure Louise gave birth to son, Quinn just six weeks ago.

She said: "You could say it all came at once for us. When we get back to normal it will be a great relief."

The move is believed to be the first of its kind for a lighthouse.

Yesterday workmen were operating within strict safety limits.

Paul Kiss, managing director of the building firm Abbey Pynford, explained: "We need to exert a force of 60 tonnes to shift the lighthouse along the girders.

"That force goes in both directions, inland and towards the cliff edge. Being so close to the edge we have to be careful."

The 90-tonne lifting jack shifted Belle Tout one metre at a time along steel girders as 18 workmen made sure the direction was straight.

Using technology similar to a hovercraft, grease was squirted from underneath the lifting jacks to allow the building to slide along more easily.

Mr Kiss added: "There are still little rock falls going on all the time so we have to be extremely delicate. Even since the big fall in November quite a bit more cliff has fallen away.

"We are are working under the dual constraint of time and space."

New underlining means Belle Tout will be able to move inland with less aggaravation after future rock falls.

Engineers expect the lighthouse's new location, 50ft inland, to be safe for at least another 50 years.

The pioneering work to move Belle Tout without dismantling it will form the basis of a scientific study on the protection of buildings on land vulnerable to coastal erosion.

Sitting on the grass next the the 55ft high granite building Derek McGlashan of Glasgow University said: "This could be a model for the future.

"It's much more environmentally-friendly to move a building inland rather than letting it collapse into the sea or building somewhere new."

But the day's events did not go without a hitch. At 11.30am a phone call was received to say an unexploded shell was lying at the base of the cliff.

Police evacuated the area around the lighthouse while they made checks.

No shells were found and everyone was called back beyond the security cordon after five minutes.

Then, in the afternoon, the bomb disposal unit had to blow up some unexploded shells found half a mile east along the cliff tops.

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