Coincidence

Another of the photographs that we selected as an option to accompany the limited edition of ‘Vernacular’ is an image of a fence on top of Castlepoint’s windblown cliffs, built from a minimal combination of metal poles and wire.

In truth, the discovery of this simple barrier was all down to David, as I was lost in the charms of the Castlepoint daisy (Brachyglottis compacta) at the time – a golden-flowered native shrub that is only found in this small area. The fence’s appeal is largely down to the contrast between its pared-back, linear form and the organic character of the headland on which the Castlepoint lighthouse stands. The vantage point from which the photograph has been taken presents this place in an unusual manner, in which the various parts of the scene (sea, rock and fence) are compressed on to what looks like a single plane.

As we prepared the book, we often discussed how people use the various places that we explored, sometimes musing that it would be good if some people recognised these places and gave us insights into them. This has happened with respect to many objects and landscapes from the book, as in the case of the Castlepoint clifftop, which an architect friend, Sam Donald, informed us was precisely the point where his father and grandfather have laid craypots into the ocean for decades.