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poliphiloThere's a double row of stakes all the way along Pett Level Beach. There are tall stakes and stumpy ones. My best guess is they're the remains of WWII defences and were originally strung with barbed wire- but I don't know it as a fact. Pett Level beach would have been a goodish spot for the Germans to have run in their landing craft- comparable in its geography to Pevensey Bay- which served earlier invaders so well.
At high tide the stakes lie under water. Over time they have acquired the kind of shapes that mid-twentieth century sculptors like Brancusi and Hepworth admired, studied and tried to emulate- only the sea did it better, having had so much longer to refine its technique.
They make me think of the lines of stones at Avebury and Carnac- and the Moai of Rapa Nui. These won't have been erected with any sacred intent (unless defence of one's loved homeland counts- as perhaps it does) but if we want to see them as totems there's nothing to stop us.
At high tide the stakes lie under water. Over time they have acquired the kind of shapes that mid-twentieth century sculptors like Brancusi and Hepworth admired, studied and tried to emulate- only the sea did it better, having had so much longer to refine its technique.
They make me think of the lines of stones at Avebury and Carnac- and the Moai of Rapa Nui. These won't have been erected with any sacred intent (unless defence of one's loved homeland counts- as perhaps it does) but if we want to see them as totems there's nothing to stop us.
