SOUNDING SPACE 014:
Bell Meadow, Chelmsford
Overview
Report, by Roger Millington.
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| Photography by Miss Jenny Scott |
‘Glaciers, Pebbles
and Radio Waves’:
Early data from the newly-discovered sounding space at Bell
Meadow, (Sonic Phenomena with Bells On!
Denny and Collingwood, forthcoming) suggests that sonic phenomena on this site
are the result of a unique combination of geological and man-made conditions.
Here we experience a striking confluence of crystalline loop
induction in glacial gravel deposits, amplified (Denny and Collingwood believe)
by the proto-historic effects of early experimental radio transmissions conducted
by Marconi at the nearby Hall Street Radio Factory.
Two million years ago, during the early Ice
Age, the River Thames flowed north of London to become a tributary of the
Rhine, dropping Kesgrave Sands and Gravels along its massive ancient river bed,
and transporting volcanic rocks from as far away as the Welsh mountains.
These puddingstones and sarsens, quartzes
and gravels are well-known for their ability to trap sonic phenomena within
their crystalline structures, a phenomenon explained by Dr Stella Barrows in
her seminal paper Rocking Radiophony –
Crystalline Induction in Sonic Geology.
The 'icing' on the site’s sonic geology 'cake' at Bell Meadow (if you will forgive the pun) is the remarkable variety of sonically-active deposits laid down in this area during the Ice Age. The Great Anglian Glaciation allowed an ice sheet some 3000ft deep to spread south into the region, blocking the Thames and causing a catastrophic change to the route of the river, diverting it south to its present position.
The remarkable abundance of sonically-responsive 'bunter' quartzite and Hertfordshire puddingstone laid down in the ancient Thames gravels can be seen in the traditional architecture of Chelmsford Cathedral, Broomfield church and many other local buildings, as well as in the Neolithic craft of Essex flint knapping. The radiophonic susceptibility of these stones to the loop induction of proto-historic sonic phenomena is well documented by NISG.
The 'icing' on the site’s sonic geology 'cake' at Bell Meadow (if you will forgive the pun) is the remarkable variety of sonically-active deposits laid down in this area during the Ice Age. The Great Anglian Glaciation allowed an ice sheet some 3000ft deep to spread south into the region, blocking the Thames and causing a catastrophic change to the route of the river, diverting it south to its present position.
The remarkable abundance of sonically-responsive 'bunter' quartzite and Hertfordshire puddingstone laid down in the ancient Thames gravels can be seen in the traditional architecture of Chelmsford Cathedral, Broomfield church and many other local buildings, as well as in the Neolithic craft of Essex flint knapping. The radiophonic susceptibility of these stones to the loop induction of proto-historic sonic phenomena is well documented by NISG.
As Denny and Collingwood suggest, the geology in this area
may have effectively turned the entire area into a huge Crystal Set radio
receiver, additionally charged by the underground spring line that runs right
around Danbury Hill, leaching iron from the gravels to create metallic,
electro-inductive 'bog-iron' in the soil.
One would assume that this were enough to explain the
abundance of proto-historic musical, industrial and conversational sonic
phenomena found in the Bell Meadow area, such as the ‘singing’ of the ancient
riverbed, the ‘sonic sermons’ recorded from beneath nearby churches, the
repeated campanological bell patterns, the geological historical echoes of
cricket matches and peasant rebellion.
However, as Denny and Collingwood suggest in their riveting
recent research, the experimental radio transmissions conducted by Guglielmo
Marconi from the nearby Hall Street Radio Works between 1898 and 1920 seem to
have further stimulated a plethora of repeating, loop-inductive wonders. Many
an unsuspecting late night reveller has been surprised by the sudden sonic
emergence of Dame Nellie Melba singing the famous aria of Marconi’s first
experimental broadcast to the world in 1920, for example. NISG research further
suggests that the two 450 feet (140 m) aerial masts that were added to the
site in 1919 may have activated sub-frequencies that continue to stimulate
sonic geology in Bell Meadow to this day, releasing melodic and conversational
phenomena.
One can only speculate as to the sonic effects of the many secretive,
military research laboratories that have been set up in Chelmsford since 1940,
covering technologies such as radar, general physics, high voltage, vacuum
physics and semi-conduction.
At Bell Meadow, sonic geology collides with the wonders of
atmospheric electromagnetism and long distance radio communication, creating a
‘sonic sponge’ that has absorbed centuries of sound. It is with great
excitement that we invite Citizen Scientists to explore these wonders through
Ear Trumpet technology.