Dungeness

Gary Hill

It's probably become a bit of a cliché for photographers to head down to Dungeness for a days shooting. When my wife told a guy from the same village as us, who's also a keen photographer, that I was away in Kent, England he apparently rolled his eyes skyward; he knew exactly where I had gone. But this boat graveyard really is a special place. Not exactly "England's only desert" as described by the ever-hyperbolic 'Daily Mail' a couple of years ago, but certainly one of its most unique and atmospheric, quiet and unromantically beautiful places. It's hard to imagine from these images that just a kilometre or so to the right as you look out at sea, there's a godawful ugly concrete nuclear power station. I'm told that a million people a year visit Dungeness. If so, they must all go together in summer. The crunch of my feet on the shingle and the squeal of seagulls was all I heard in March. I was fortunate enough to get an appropriate mackerel sky on one of the days I visited but I would have eagerly traded that for one the famous mists that drift in from the sea. That would really add to the eeriness.

Maybe it'll happen next time I go all clichéd. Meanwhile, here's some images from 2011. I'm told the boats and sheds have deteriorated greatly since then.

Decaying fishing boat under a mackerel sky on the shingle beach at Dungeness in England.

The bow of a decaying fishing boat sitting on the shingle beach at Dungeness

Decaying fishing boat sitting alone on the shingle beach at Dungeness

A decaying fishing boat, winch and wooden hut sit under a mackerel sky on a shingle beach at Dungeness

An abandoned fishing boat under a menacing sky at Dungeness

Two abandoned fishing boats under a menacing sky at Dungeness

The bow of a decaying fishing boat under a mackerel sky at Dungeness

Rotting wooden fishermen's huts on the shingle beach at Dungeness

Fishing nets spill out of a decaying shed at Dungeness

A recently painted fishing boat sits on the shingle beach at Dungeness

A single berth caravan sits alongside a tin shed on the beach at Dungeness

A decaying fishing boat sits on the shingle beach under a mackerel sky at Dungeness

The stern of the 'Mollyrose, a decaying fishing boat at Dungeness

Bright yellow lichen decorates the wooden hull of a decaying fishing boat on the beach at Dungeness

John Donne's poem 'The Sun Rising' on the wall of Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage at Dungeness

Rotting ropes and nets sit in an old fisherman's hut at Dungeness

A decaying boat winch and fishing boat on the shingle beach at Dungeness

'Dungeness'. Original images and written content © Gary Hill 2011. All rights reserved. Not in public domain. If you wish to use my work for anything other than legal 'fair use' (i.e., non-profit educational or scholarly research or critique purposes) please contact me for permission first.