Along your walk from the estate entrance, starting at the 'Watering House', to the final resting point at the station café you will pass and maybe stop awhile at the life boat station (open to the public most days), Derek Jarmans garden, the fresh fish - straight off the boat - house, the bait shop, the art gallery, the local pub - the Britannia (good food) and the 'Round House' - the original base of the 18th Century lighthouse.

The ‘T’ Structure 

In the good old days – pre nuclear power stations - local fishing boats used to navigate home by lining up the lighthouse with the church tower in Lydd.   Following the building of ‘A’ station the church was no longer visible and at the time GPS was not a known aid.

Two structures were erected on the beach – one a diamond shape and the other a ‘T’, seen to the east of the power station.   Fishing boat crews would simply line the ‘T’ up in the diamond and head straight for home!   No one seems to have an answer as to what happened when foggy!   Today of course the faithful ‘sat nav’ is an affordable item of equipment.

And the beach is also the birthplace of the world famous (if you are a beach fisherman) 'Zziplex' fishing rods  (see- Links) .

Next to the lifeboat station you will see one of the original Tan Coppers which, in years gone by, were used for 'tanning' the fishing nets. Before the advent of monofilaments and oil based 'ropes' fishing nets, left in their untreated stated would soon rot - hence the dip in 'Kutch'.

This tanning of the nets became a ritual and their were special 'Tanning Days' when all the new nets and fishing smocks all went into the coppers. From the 1920's nets were supplied pre-treated and so the 'Tanning Day' died a natural death. We used to have a 'May Day' 'open day' on the beach - but it always rains on Mayday - maybe there Tanning Day could be resurrected!!!

Marconi Structures

One of the few remaining relics at Dungeness, apart from some residents, is the odd shaped structure pictured opposite.   As children we called it the ‘Decca Research Station’ but in fact it was the Marconi structure or ‘sheds’.   Built around the late 1890’s Guglielmo Marconi (best known as the ‘man who invented radio) it was used for research and development in the transmitting of radio signals – and in 1899 Marconi became the first person to send a message across the English Channel. 

The structure still stands in a forlorn state.   The current owner had applied for planning permission to re-build on the site with something ‘sympathetic’ to the area and a structure attempting to emulate what it was too replace.   Nothing heard to date about any further development.

Pluto at Dungeness. 

No not the cartoon character but the hub and source for PLUTO - an acronym for pipeline under the ocean .   A series of small bore high pressure hoses were trailed across the seabed to France to carry much needed fuel for the D Day landings in Normandy during the second world war.   The pumping equipment was ‘hidden’ in various inconspicuous buildings including one that is now known as the ‘Pluto B&B house, situated just outside the estate gates.   The pipeline was an unmitigated success and at its peak could pump one million gallons of fuel a day.   A few remaining structures that went to make up the Pluto operation can still be found to the west of the power stations.