The Sound Mirror - A new sculpture for Deal

Published: 12 May 2026

Donated by Bill Elliott. A friend. A philanthropist. A gentleman.

(Sculpture unveiling - Friday 22 May at 2:30pm Deal Seafront, north of the Royal Hotel)

Living close to the seafront of historic Deal, long-term resident Bill Elliott made a bequest in his will ‘to create a work of art that would enhance the beauty of the town’. Deal Town Council invited ideas for a ‘beautiful installation that would stand for generations to come’.

From many submissions, a proposal for a sound mirror was chosen, designed by Deal artist Michael Bennett. The winning proposal is for the construction of a thought-provoking installation to enhance public enjoyment of the seafront, providing historical insights to the town’s nautical and military past, detailing its role in previous world conflicts, to become a lasting memorial to its benefactor.

Two sculptures in one

Consisting of a 1.78m (6 feet) high structure with a sound mirror on one side, the bronze sculpture will be oriented towards the sea.

The mirror should enable those standing in front of it to hear amplified sounds of the sea and have any sound they make to be reflected back magnified.

To the rear, sculptor Michael Bennett created a map of East Kent’s coast and sea, showing hundreds of years of wrecks, places and people with a connection to the area, including Lady Hamilton, Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming.

A new map in bronze, centuries of wrecks

Finding that many previous maps of Goodwin Sands shipwrecks were inaccurate, Michael set out to create a map showing wreck sites of ships, submarines, sailing boats and planes in their last recorded positions.

More than two thousand vessels are thought to have sunk in the area of the Goodwins over many centuries. Seven hundred are shown, the earliest being Dolphin, sunk in 1585, the latest Glevon, in 2005.

Piecing together data from many different sources was a challenge. With the help of Paul Day, a bathymetric mapping specialist, the Goodwin Sands Preservation Trust and artificial intelligence, Michael drew a new, finely-detailed map, cast in bronze.

Complete wreck data is freely available on the project’s website dealsculpture.com

History notes
Sound Mirrors were constructed between the two world wars, mainly along the south coast of the UK, to listen to the sound of incoming enemy aircraft, allowing early warning of possible attack.

Many of the concrete structures still exist, in varying states of preservation. Most are open to the public, such as the three mirrors at Greatstone, Kent, built between 1928 and 1930. The technology was redundant by 1935, with the invention of radar.

The artwork: people, events, places, things, inspiration for Ian Fleming's Moonraker

Notable people featured in the Sound Mirror's artwork are Julius Caesar; reputed to have landed near Sandwich when invading Britain, Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson; who stayed together at the Royal Hotel, Deal around 1801, the Fourth Earl Of Sandwich; inventor of the lunchtime snack that bears his name, Elizabeth Carter; one of Deal’s most famous women, artist JMW Turner; once a Deal resident, Two Lords Warden of The Cinque Ports: Lord Wellington and Winston Churchill, authors Noel Coward and Ian Fleming, who both lived at different times in the same house at St. Margaret's Bay.

Also shown are the famous Ham and Sandwich road sign near Finglesham, the former Betteshangar Colliery, the probable inspirations for Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Moonraker and Bond’s agent number, the Dover Patrol Monument, the site of a Chain Home Radar installation, a migrant boat and The Dunkirk Evacuation.

Editors' notes
A Sculpture For Deal was a competitive commission organised by Deal Town Council in 2023, from a bequest in the will of Deal resident Bill Elliott. The winning entry was 'Sound Mirror' by Deal artist Michael Bennett. The sculpture took nearly three years to complete. It will open to the public in a ceremony on Deal seafront, north of the Royal Hotel, at 2:30pm on 22nd May 2026.

Michael Bennett is self-taught artist who has worked for national newspapers, books, television and design. As a photographer and illustrator, he worked for The Times, The Independent, The Sunday Times, The BBC, Financial Times and The New Statesman. He had a long association with the satirical magazine Private Eye. His work can be found in the V&A Museum, The National Portrait Gallery, The Arts Council and The National Museum of Wales.

This is his first sculpture.

Website: dealsculpture.com
Sculpture: cast in bronze on a stainless steel substructure, 1.78m x 1.78m
Fabrication at foundries in Scotland (Powderhall Bronze, Edinburgh), England (Photocast, Liverpool) and Wales (Castle Fine Arts Foundry, Oswestry)
Press enquiries: Nadine Miller 07388 059833 (Deal Town Council) nadine.miller@deal.gov.uk