The Sound Mirrors of Denge at Passing Strangeness. If a technology solves a problem that’s particularly desperate (or it solves one that’s less desperate but more profitable), it’s often prefigured by other, lesser technologies.
Denge
Denge photos
Michael Rich has a slideshow of photos of Denge taken in April 2009.
Peter King photography’s Sound Mirrors Photos were taken on 13 July 2008, and Echoes In The Sky Dungeness & Sound Mirrors are from 19 August 2007.
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 RepairsThe 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
‘Hidden things to see and do’ from the Observer
The sound mirrors – and this website – got a mention in the Observer’s travel section on 5 April 2009. The piece formed part of the Military sites” category in a series about Secret Britain – “All around us lie overgrown and forgotten sites with fascinating stories to tell, says Iain Sinclair”.
Acoustic mirrors, various locations
In the middle of a field in Kilnsea, Yorkshire there is a 15-foot-high concave concrete structure resembling a satellite dish. It’s actually an acoustic (or sound) mirror, used during the first world war to detect enemy engine sounds. They are a common fixture along the British coast, including at Kilnsea (OS map ref: TA 411167), Hythe in Kent (OS map ref: TR138344) and Denge on the Dungeness peninsula (OS map ref: TR070215), which recently featured in the new Prodigy music video, Invaders Must Die.
Source Observer
Crafty Shirley’s Denge mirror photographs
Crafty Shirley’s Photo Gallery – Sound Mirrors By The Sea. Within a short walk of where we live is Lade Pit. At the back of these lakes are the three Listening Devices built in the 1920s and 30s as part of a national early warning system against enemy aircraft.
The Devil of Denge Marsh
I think it must have been a radio programme, or something like that… the picture seems to show an aloe vera plant attacking the 30 foot mirror at Denge.
The Scarifyers return in their second full-length adventure…
A melting minister… a scientific project gripped by madness…
a remote village on the Kent coast where the locals have some strange habits indeed. It’s all just the ticket for top-secret government department, MI-13.Lionheart (Nicholas Courtney) and Dunning (Terry Molloy) are back, to do battle with the Women’s Institute, an old adversary and an inter-dimensional being from the dawn of time – THE DEVIL OF DENGE MARSH.
Source: Cosmic Hobo
Denge sound mirrors feature in prize-winning graphic story
Julian Hanshaw won the 2008 Observer/Cape Graphic Short Story Prize with Sand Dunes and Sonic Booms, described by the Observer as a “haunting, evocative and beautifully drawn story”. It is set on the south coast, and at the Denge mirrors in particular.
We loved Hanshaw’s sense of time and place – an effect he achieved partly through a series of sepia frames illustrating the south coast. Hanshaw is an animator by training, and moved to Winchelsea, East Sussex from London three years ago. Since then he has become ‘mildly obsessed’ with the area, particularly the spectral and strange Dungeness. The idea for ‘Sand Dunes and Sonic Booms’ came after a visit to one of the south coast’s sound mirrors – primitive devices designed to detect and track military aircraft before the First World War (though the ones in Kent date from the 1930s).
Source: The Observer 2009-11-09
You can read the story here: Sand Dunes & Sonic Booms.
Photos from August 2008 guided walk
Dave Snowdon went on a guided walk to the sound mirrors of Lade Pit, Dungeness on 17 August 2008. There were, apparently, 261 people who attended this walk. The largest group in the 11 years Dr. Scarth has been giving these talks
.
He has some photos of the mirror and the crowds on his website.
2009 guided walks to the Denge sound mirrors
The Romney Marsh Countryside Project has announced the dates when the sound mirrors at Denge can be visited in 2009.
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. 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 on 01797 367934 or email us at mail@rmcp.co.uk.
ECHOES FROM THE SKY WALKS 2009 WALKS DATES ANNOUNCED
As well as the new open day we will be holding two guided walks on Sunday 16th August and Sunday 13th September. They will be lead by ourselves and Dr Richard Scarth, the world’s expert on these structures. The walks start at 2pm and we will be meeting at the Lade car park opposite Taylor Road on Coast Drive (halfway between the Pilot Pub and Romney Sands) (TR 085 208). The walk will last approximately 2.5 hours and is over shingle. It is a non-booking event and donations are appreciated. For more information contact the RMCP on 01797 367934 or email mail@rmcp.co.uk
Source: RMCP
Obviously people should confirm details with RMCP nearer the time. The walks are well worth doing!
Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy
On February 23 2009 The Prodigy will release an album called Invaders Must Die, which features a track of the same name for which a video was shot at Dungeness. The Denge sound mirrors feature from about 1 min 15 sec in.
‘Invaders Must Die’ is 40 minutes of having your head battered by future nostalgia, serotonin levels twisted by feel-good horrorcore and your synapses snapped by whiplash attitude. It’s the sound of The Prodigy mixing up genres, contorting the past and rewiring the future, ram-raiding through the tranquility of music’s status quo like a blot on the landscape of England’s dreaming.
Source: Invaders Must Die
So now we know. I just hope no morons get it into their heads to try vandalising the mirrors as depicted in the video.
The mirrors have been used by a variety of musicians, including Turin Brakes, Bass Communion and Blank & Jones.
(thanks to Ken Morrow for letting me know about the video)