A FINAL act to mark Armistice Day in Oxford saw a beacon lit to symbolise the message being spread that the First World War was over.

At 7 pm on Sunday, Oxfordshire's Lord Lieutenant Tim Stevenson lit the torch at the top of the castle mound under a starry sky as part of a weekend of events to mark the centenary of the end of the conflict.

Across the UK more than 1,000 beacons were also being lit at the same time as part of the Battle's Over programme, a nationwide day of commemorative events in tribute to those killed in the First World War.

It began at 6am on Remembrance Sunday with a thousand lone pipers playing Battle’s O’er, a traditional Scottish air played after a battle and included church bells rung in unison and town criers declaring peace.

Following a torch-lit procession up the mound, at 6.55pm The Last Post was played by a Cub Scout on the trumpet, and a two-minute silence was observed before the beacon was lit.

The gesture was designed to signify 'the light of peace that emerged from the darkness' of four years of war.

Among the specially invited guests who took part were the Fourth Oxford Scout group, military and civic representatives, veterans along with Oxfordshire's High Sheriff Richard Venables.

It drew to a close a day of services across the county for Remembrance Sunday, which this year also fell on Armistice Day.

Thousands attended memorial services in Oxfordshire to honour those killed in war.