A WW1 acoustic mirror lovingly preserved in the middle of a modern housing estate in Redcar, Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/BmtPkGoTL2
— KThomas O (@soullessparty) August 22, 2020
Acoustic early warning systems, spectacular remnants of a dead-end technology on the British coast
A WW1 acoustic mirror lovingly preserved in the middle of a modern housing estate in Redcar, Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/BmtPkGoTL2
— KThomas O (@soullessparty) August 22, 2020
BBC interview about the sound mirror in Redcar: “In 1916 it was sitting in open farm land. Since then a modern housing estate has grown up around it. The concrete structure has not always been treated well. When it stopped being used to detect German raids a farmer used it as a spot to store manure. There have been problems with bike enthusiasts using it as a ramp to practice their stunts.” Release date: 22 January 2014.
More on the Redcar sound mirror
Perusing a 1963 Ordnance Survey map, I noticed a long-gone bit of railway which I’d never noticed before, running off the Middlesbrough – Saltburn line at Ryehill Farm between Redcar and Marske. A bit of Googling finds references to Marske aerodrome, complete with photos of the sound mirror from 1983.
Plus some more pictures of the Marske mirror
My photos of the Marske mirror
There is a short video about Redcar’s acoustic mirror on YouTube.