Royal Military Canal sound mirror

A modern acoustic mirror has been built (circa 2003?) alongside the Palmarsh Footbridge over the Royal Military Canal in Kent, close to the Hythe sound mirrors.

Hythe Royal Military Canal modern sound mirror


There is a listening mirror on the north (far) bank of the canal, and a speaking point on the south (near) side. The idea is that you can use the mirror to talk to someone 23 metres away on the opposite bank, but as I was on my own I couldn’t test it!

Update from Paul Devall: It does work. We have taken many visitors across to have a go!

Hythe Royal Military Canal modern sound mirror

The information boards on the mirror and on a mini mirror-shaped stand give some brief details of the history of the acoustic mirrors in English and réflecteur acoustique in French. They suggests that you can’t visit the surviving examples, which is a bit misleading, as the Abbot’s Cliff and Redcar ones are publicly accessible, and the close by Hythe ones are on MoD land with permissive access.

Hythe Royal Military Canal modern sound mirror

The modern mirror was made by Richter Spielgeräte GmbH of Frasdorf in Germany.

Location


View Larger Map

The sound mirror is adjacent to the Palmarsh Footbridge over the Royal Military Canal at Pennypot, just west of Hythe in Kent. This Millennium Bridges website has some photos of the bridge, but they pre-date construction of the mirror.

Follow the canal west from Hythe, and you can’t miss the sound mirror. Alternatively there is a bus stop on the road to Dymchurch. An approximate grid reference is TR140340, or N51.065802 E1.053077

One thought on “Royal Military Canal sound mirror

  1. I live very near tbis replica. It does work and we regularly see people testing it.

    Ironic that it was built by those we sought defence and advanced notice of!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.