The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI)
The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) is an entirely voluntary organisation keeping a visual watch along UK shores.
In 1994 when two fishermen lost their lives off the Cornish coast below a recently closed Coastguard lookout, local people decided to open and restore the ‘visual watch’ of the seas around Bass Point, Cornwall. Today, 49 stations keep watch around the coastline of England and Wales. A computer cannot spot a distress flare, an overturned boat or a fisherman in trouble.
This project is about the volunteers who journey out to the stations to maintain a daylight watch 365 days a year. The watch houses are built on narrow cliff edges, and endure brutal weather conditions. The Interiors are lived in professional spaces. The work itself is isolated, lonely. It involves watching the horizon, logging and monitoring.
Medium Format 6/7 colour negative
NCI Prawle Point - Summer
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NCI - Brownstone Battery - Summer
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Teignmouth NCI
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Torbay NCI
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The National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) is an entirely voluntary organisation keeping a visual watch along UK shores.
In 1994 when two fishermen lost their lives off the Cornish coast below a recently closed Coastguard lookout, local people decided to open and restore the ‘visual watch’ of the seas around Bass Point, Cornwall. Today, 49 stations keep watch around the coastline of England and Wales. A computer cannot spot a distress flare, an overturned boat or a fisherman in trouble.
This project is about the volunteers who journey out to the stations to maintain a daylight watch 365 days a year. The watch houses are built on narrow cliff edges, and endure brutal weather conditions. The Interiors are lived in professional spaces. The work itself is isolated, lonely. It involves watching the horizon, logging and monitoring.
Medium Format 6/7 colour negative
NCI Prawle Point - Summer
NCI - Brownstone Battery - Summer
Teignmouth NCI
Torbay NCI
NCI - Brownstone Battery
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NCI - Brownstone Battery
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NCI - Rame Head - Winter![]()
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NCI - Brownstone Battery
NCI - Rame Head - Winter
