As well as the walks to the Denge mirrors, there is one to the Hythe sound mirror this year.
Sunday 4th July 2.00pm
SOUND MIRRORS AT HYTHEA chance to walk up the steep grassy escarpment to the 30ft Concrete Mirror or Sound Dish on The Roughs at Hythe. One of the Mirrors has fallen down and the other is surrounded by fencing, but the views are wonderful. Donation appreciated.
Full details at the Romney Marsh Countryside Project website.
On May 31 Diamond Geezer (who writes a very good London blog) “…found an acoustic sound mirror at Abbott’s Cliff”.
Hywel Williams took some photographs on a guided walk to the Denge sound mirrors on 4 August 2004: Denge Sound Mirrors – “The Listening Ears”.
I could hear the little steam train pass across in front of me off the sound mirror, GREATLY magnified in sound and apparently in the mirror direction it was traveling. Clearly not a demonstration of aeroplane detection, but also a clear demonstration that these concrete mirrors still work, nearly 80 years after their experimental construction!
Ooo, I’m in one of the photos!
Hywel also has a rather good site about Disused stations on London’s Underground.
Ian Ballard has photographed the Denge sound mirrors from a light aircraft.
“Acoustic Sound Mirrors at Greatstone-on-Sea, Lydd” at Kent County Council’s Exploring Kent’s Past.
The remains of three large concrete structures, formerly an anti-aircraft Acoustic Detection installation. Microphones were attached to the three reinforced concrete structures in order to pick up the sound of approaching enemy aircraft. The smallest ‘sound mirror’ was found to be fairly ineffective so it was superseded by a larger dish, 12 m in diameter. This in turn was replaced by a 70m long ‘sound wall’. The structures were built by the RAF between 1930-4. They were rendered obsolete by the introduction of radar in 1935, and by advances in aerial technology.
Source: Exploring Kent’s Past
Sound mirrors on the Kent History Forum. There is lots of other good stuff on the site, too.
on the last official walk … there was round 300 hundred of us.
Joss bay had two sound mirrors one being a slab, this was cut into the cliff near by the castle keep hotel , now replaced by flats.a slight indentation can still be seen near the top of the cliff. Checking the site where the round mirror was, which was a timber frame rendered. a few years ago the telephone cable blocks were still in place.
More on the Selsey sound mirror
A photograph from Graeme Hartley, taken circa 1976 when I was about 8 years old
, showing him with the Hythe Roughs sound mirror when it was in rather better condition than now.
Likely dates for public access to the Denge mirrors have been announced on the website of the Romney Marsh Countryside Project. Remember, this is the only way to visit the Denge mirrors.
SUMMER 2010 VISITS TO THE SOUND MIRRORS
The sound mirrors are only accessible on one of our guided tours and we have been leading free tours out to the Sound Mirrors for 13 years now. They are on an island, connected by a locked swing bridge on a private gravel workings (owned by CEMEX). The dates for 2010 have yet to be published in our booklet, however they are most likely to be as follows: An Open day from 10 am to 5 pm on Sunday 18th July Guided walks starting at 2 pm on Sunday 8th August and Sunday 26th September. The walks and the Open Day are free of charge and there is no need to book, although we do ask for a donation. The meeting point will be at Lade car park on Coast Drive (half way between the Pilot Pub and Romney Sands) (TR 085 208). Please contact us for more information if needed. Tel: 01797 367934 Fax: 01797 367934
2010-03-10 15:34:57
People planning to join these walks should obviously confirm details with the RMCP before travelling.
More on the Redcar sound mirror
