On 17 September 1997, a 450 feet high concrete chimney stack on Canvey Island was accidentally demolished a day early. TV personality Fred Dibnah, who was in charge of the demolition, jokingly labelled it 'The Canvey Island Chimney Disaster'.
This project will restage the sound of the chimney stack being destroyed on its original site (now within Canvey Wick nature reserve), which has remained lost to its intended audience for all these years.
In the 1970s, an oil refinery was partially built at the west end of Canvey Island. It was never finished, thanks in large part to local campaigners, and the site became derelict. Eventually, the land was bought by the retail chain Safeways, who wanted to build a new supermarket and retail park. The purchase agreement stipulated that Safeways should organise the demolition of the tanks and the large chimney that remained on the site.
The Canvey Island chimney had its own unique chronology of demise in 1997, comprising three explosions, two collapses, and three stages of concrete hitting the ground:
• On the morning of the 17th September, things started to go awry after the tendons that ran up the chimney were cut in preparation for the planned demolition at 2pm the following day.
• Without warning, there was a sudden boom and a large piece of concrete flew off the side and struck the ground.
• Then another boom as another piece flew off, similarly striking the ground.
• The chimney did not initially fall over; instead, it fell straight down for 40 feet and stopped.
• The air pressure then built up and blew the lid off the top
• Finally, the chimney slowly started to fall over, landing right down the middle of the oil drums that had been laid out as markers.
• The chimney had fallen as planned, just a day earlier.
On 29 June 2025, visitors can experience these lost sounds once again on Canvey: hearing a recreation of the explosion through headphones, sensing the trebling landscape as vibrations through the platform on which they are standing, and feeling blasts of air on their body that simulate the demolition shockwaves.
About the organisers
The Library of Lost Sounds collects sounds that were never recorded. A collaboration between artists, researchers and scientists, the group aims to recreate sounds of importance as they were felt through the whole body, not only how they might have been heard.
Image: Aerial photo of the abandoned oil refinery with the concrete chimney, courtesy of Canvey Community Archive
© 2024 Estuary Festival CIC
