Sound mirror open day 19 July 2009

Just a reminder about this weekend’s open day at the Denge sound mirrors, organised by the Romney Marsh Countryside Project:

Due to the overwhelming popularity of last years Echoes of the Sky tours we are making a few changes this year. We will be holding a new open day on Sunday 19th July. The island will be open from 10am in the morning until 5pm. Dr Richard Scarth, an expert on these structures, will be present to answer any questions. The Sound Mirrors are located on private land and this is the only way in which they can be accessed. We will have a number of staff stationed at key places to help direct people to the island. There will a member of staff on the bridge asking for a £2 donation per person to cover costs. Parking is available at Lade car park, opposite Taylor Road on Coast Drive (halfway between the Pilot Pub and Romney Sands) (TR 085 208). This will be a non-booking event, you just need to turn up on the day. The walk will be across shingle. For anymore details contact the Romney Marsh Countryside Project

Kilnsea sound mirror pictures at From The Neolithic To The Sea

Kilnsea Sound Mirror at From The Neolithic To The Sea.

This is a personal journey through time and space, visiting many places and the story told in pictures and words. As with most journeys, we encounter the ordinary, the unusual and the interesting. Some we seek, some we find and some even find us.
From The Neolithic To The Sea: A Journey From The Past To The Present

Other pages of interest on the site include the Humber Port War Signal Station at Spurn, Reighton Sands and the Godwin Artillery Battery at Kilnsea.

Conservation of the concrete mirrors

When I went on one of the guided walks to the Denge sound mirrors, one of the other vistors was a construction worker who was somewhat critical of the quality of some of the original concrete on the mirrors. I’m not qualified to comment, but Rowan Technologies has some experts on the conservation of concrete.

Case Study #1: Dungeness

English Heritage has commissioned a series of investigative repairs on the mirrors – which are now scheduled as monuments (legal protection specifically for archaeological sites) – that will explore treatments that might be transferable elsewhere. The richly patinated surface of the mirrors is a complex amalgam of weathered aggregate and many varieties of lichen. Chris Wood from English Heritage’s building conservation team is also experimenting with yoghurt to encourage lichen reinstatement. The works were carried out by Rowan Technologies.
Source: The Architects’ Journal, 2008-11-24

Rowan Technologies has this to say:

Conservation Case Studies

The Listening Mirrors, Kent
Like-for-Like Concrete Repairs

The three early warning sound mirrors [at Denge] on the Kent coast were built using reinforced concrete in the late 1920s and the early 1930s to detect the distant sounds of enemy aircraft approaching from over the English Channel. The reinforced concrete has deteriorated in the marine environment and many parts of the structure are suffering from corrosion of the reinforcements and the delamination of the concrete cover.

Rowan Technologies undertook a series of trials of various repair and rehabilitation methods to assess their suitability for these monuments. This included ‘model’ patch repairs of the damaged concrete on a like-for-like basis, to achieving a similar texture and surface finish to the original
Source: Rowan Technologies Ltd

Warden Point sea defences

Now the bad news. Greg writes from Warden Bay:

a bit concerned about the future of our sound mirror. Basically government funding has now been sourced to install a rock sea defence along the bottom of the cliff to stop it eroding (probably the same as at Bartons Point, Minster). This would go along the beach to near where the mirror is located, but I would hate to see it buried in the rocks. The mirror is something quite historic, and has become a local landmark, often known as the “listening ear”. … I haven’t seen the plan for the proposed works or the impact they would have on the mirror, and don’t know whether it has any kind of preservation order on it.

Wouldn’t it be great if, while they have huge machines on the beach, if the mirror could be moved up the beach a bit, so as to ebate its decay in the sea?

Oh, by the way, the “cracked” thing was done by an artist(?) who did this sort of stuff all round the island! A waste of time if you ask me – all that effort would have been far more useful maybe erecting a plaque or something to explain, to the hundreds of people who use the beach, exactly what the concrete remains used to be, and how they played a vital part in our history.