Jaywick Martello Tower, 2016

I popped in to the Jaywick Martello Tower, which is now run as an art gallery and community space. The manager, Kerith, was very welcoming, and we had a good chat about the history of the site and what is happening in the local area today. Generously, she let me record in several of the spaces inside the Tower, and also from the roof.

The Tower affords great views of the local landscape, holiday parks and the sea, sounds from which all drift across and are captured on the ‘roof’ recording here. Most notably you can hear jet skis out at sea and the tune from the West Ham themed ice cream van on the Martello Beach Holiday Park.

I also recorded inside the gallery space on the first floor, which is markedly different, being a rounded shape and really insulated from the sounds outside by its 2-3m thick walls.

The final recording was made outside the Tower, where I stood for a while watching the spectacular Red Arrows, which fortunately flew right over head (on their way to or from the Clacton Airshow, presumably).