The well-known seaside town of Deal in Kent is one of my favourite locations anywhere, and one of the most picturesque and enjoyable places on the British coast to visit. I will declare that was raised there and get back to visit as often as I can, so I am not particularly objective. However, many people agree with me, as it has been voted one of the best places to live in Britain. I discovered recently that is it is not the only place with that name and that there are other towns called Deal: a seaside town in the USA with the same name; a village in Transylvania, Romania; two Deal islands, one as far away as Tasmania, and the appearance of quite a few more on the internet.

Town called Deal — Boats on Deal Beach, in Kent

The Other Towns Called Deal – and the Internet Confusion

A quick internet search can give the appearance of many places called Deal – one site claims 10. To make the confusion worse the term ‘Deal’ gets confused with all kinds of monetary ‘deals’, financial transactions and card dealing. If that wasn’t enough there is a cryptography term DEAL which stands for Data Encryption Algorithm with Larger blocks, and even an early car named Deal! This post provides a short jaunt to the other Deals around the world and attempts to clear up the internet confusion.

The Other Seaside Deal and its Extra Terrestrial Rock

I haven’t visited any of other towns called Deal, though I have unknowingly been very close to the other seaside Deal in New Jersey, USA many times. For some years I worked for a NJ software company based in Monmouth County and I often visited the seaside at Long Branch, which is the next town on the coast, and only about 5 miles away. If only I had known about the other seaside Deal at the time!

The name of the New Jersey town is derived from the original Deal in Kent, which comes from the Old English ‘dael’ meaning ‘valley’. The modern English word with the same origin is ‘dale’. A settler, Thomas Whyte, an English carpenter from Deal, acquired land along the shore in the mid 1660s. Like much of the coast in that area, it is a pricey location. The average house price was $1.8m back in 2007, according to Forbes Magazine. There is a man-made lake in the area called Deal Lake, which is one of the largest in New Jersey, occupying 158 acres.

Other towns called Deal Long Branch NJ — Long Branch. About 5 miles from Deal, New Jersey

The other reference to Deal, NJ you might find is the Deal meteorite, which fell in 1829. It caused much excitement at the time, being accompanied by a fireball over the town and multiple booms. It is of the L6 chondrite variety, which mainly consists of obscure minerals such as olivine and hypersthene, and weighs in 28g.

New Deal, Texas

There is a new New Deal in Texas, with a population was 794 at the 2010 census. This is named after President Roosevelt’s public works program, not our English seaside town, so it’s a red herring. It was originally called Monroe, after a local landowner, but as there was already a town in Texas with the name Monroe City, the U.S. postal department changed the name of the town to avoid confusion.

Transylvanian Deal

Deal is Romanian for ‘hill’ so it is not surprising there is a place of that name in Romania. It’s located in the county of Alba, Transylvania which had a population of 355 in 2011. The Wikipedia page is a stub article that provides very little information except for a translation of the name into other languages. The village has a FaceBook page, which provides some images.

Given it is such a common word, it’s also not surprising to find villages in Romania that incorporate it. There are several villages called După Deal, which according to Google Translate means ‘beyond the hill’. Searching for ‘Deal’ in Romania will also bring up place names that contain the term such as the Dealul Mare wine region.

Far Flung Deal Island, Tasmania

Far from South East Kent is Deal Island, Tasmania, the largest island of the remote Kent Group of islands and some 10,609 miles away! The island lies within the Kent Group National Park, Tasmania’s northernmost national park and marine reserve. A visitor in 2018 described it as “an imposing, dramatic landfall…picture a mammoth, granite tooth jutting out of the sea on an otherwise blank horizon.”

According to the same account, the average population of Deal Island for most of the year is just two caretakers, volunteers who stay for 3 months to maintain the heritage buildings, grave-sites, and air strip. The island is largely inaccessible unless you have a yacht and the caretakers are entirely reliant on solar power. At least the caretakers have some wildlife for company, as the island has populations of wallabies and geese.

There is a lighthouse on the island, which was constructed in 1865, decommissioned in 1992 and once the highest lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. The original lighthouse keeper’s residence is now a museum.

The reference to Kent sounds like it must be connected to Deal, Kent, but that’s another red herring. The island was named after captain William Kent, an English Royal Navy officer, known for his part in settling the region.

Deal Island, USA and the Skipjacks

Deal Island, USA is in Somerset County, Maryland. The population of the island was 578 at the 2000 census, though it is dropping, whilst shedding land at about six-and-a-half acres a year due to rising seas. The island is known for its skipjacks, single-masted vessels, which were the mainstay of the Chesapeake Bay oyster fleet in the 19th century.

The local oyster harvest reached its peak in 1884 but has declined steadily since, especially since the turn of the 21st century. New skipjacks were built up until the late twentieth century, but a change in the law in 1965 allowed motor powered boats to operate two days a week , and they have been in steady decline ever since. Few skipjacks remain today, but they remain a source of pride on Deal Island, which hosts skipjack races once a year. It sounds like a really interesting place to visit with traditional waterman’s homes, seafood shacks and wildlife such as osprey and pelicans. I would think it would be a great photographic destination. In addition to the boats and wildlife there is old wooden bank building still standing which closed after the crash of 1929!

Unverified Towns called Deal: Idaho, Pennsylvania, The Philippines and South Africa

You can find map references to towns called called Deal elsewhere, typically in very remote locations, but these appear to be automatically generated with nothing to substantiate them. The link I’ve shared here counts Deal, Kent twice, so its clearly unreliable.

There is also a Wikipedia stub article that references a Deal in Pennsylvania, but it provides no details except that it is an unincorporated community that had a post office in the 1880s!

Useful Resources on this Site

My post on the many pleasures of Deal describes some of the best ways to enjoy the English coastal town, which is an ancient place with a rich history. You can read more about that in my article on Deal history and its companion post on Deal’s famous visitors and residents. The most obvious start to Deal photography is at the beach. There are still several working boats to shoot on the shingle beach together with winding gear and plenty of lobster pots. I have put together a gallery of boat shots, all taken on film – you can view them at my boats of Deal, Kent gallery.

Photography in the seaside town of Deal, Kent is one of my favourite locations anywhere. It one of the most picturesque and enjoyable places on the British coast to visit and was raised there and get back to visit as often as I can. My post on the many pleasures of Deal describes some of the best ways to enjoy the town. It’s an ancient place with a rich history. You can read more about that in my article on Deal history and its companion post on Deal’s famous visitors and residents.

Deal Photography Opportunity #1 – The Boats

The most obvious start to Deal photography is at the beach. There are still several working boats to shoot on the shingle beach together with winding gear and plenty of lobster pots. I have put together a gallery of boat shots, all taken on film – you can view them at my boats of Deal, Kent gallery.

Deal Photography Opportunity #2 – The Pier

One of just eight piers in the Southeast and 60 surviving nationally, the current pier is the third sited at Deal, Kent. The history of the piers makes for interesting reading in this article by local historian Gregory Hollyoak. Built from reinforced concrete, the current 1026 feet pier was opened in 1957 by the Duke of Edinburgh.

The pier provides excellent views of the seafront, and photographers are often able to take advantage of the amazing cloud formations that gather over the town, which is one of the highlights of Deal photography. Visitors to the pier are welcomed at the entrance by a 3 metre high bronze statue, ‘Embracing the Sea’, by sculptor John Buck, which is also very photogenic. The pier is popular with anglers and has benches lining its entire length as well as a number of shelters. Catches include mackerel, garfish, mullet, pollack and sole in summer with whiting and codling in winter.

Deal Photography Opportunity #3 – The Conservation Area

Farrier Street Deal Deal Photography — Farrier Street, Deal (digital)

The town developed a mile or so inland from the coast, in an area now known as Upper Deal, where the ancient Parish church of St. Leonard’s stands with its distinctive cupola. In the seventeenth century development shifted closer to the beach in Lower Deal along the three streets that run parallel to the shore – Beach, Middle Street and Lower Street (now the High Street). Middle Street is now the heart of the picturesque conservation area (the first in Kent) with numerous narrow streets and alleys. Deal was a smuggling town and the alleys were ideal for taking contraband from boats on the beach into the town.

At one time these narrow streets also contained a very large number of pubs. At its peak in 1871 the town had 79 Public Houses and 16 Beer Houses for a population of around 8,000 people! See the post The Pubs of Old Deal for more on this subject. There are still a good number of great pubs to visit in the old part of the town, my favourites being The Ship Inn, which takes a good photography, and The Deal Hoy.

Deal Photography Opportunity #4 – The Seafront and Promenade

The area near the popular Kings Head pub is particularly attractive with plenty of bench seating shared with the nearby Port Arms. The pub and the guest house next door is decorated with flowers and bunting in the summer and it really is a great place to sit and relax. The seafront promenade extends from Sandown to Kingsdown and provides a wonderful walk with photographic opportunities provided by the boats, beach houses and the pier.

Deal Photography Opportunity #5- The Timeball Tower

Time ball Tower historic town Deal — Deal Timeball tower and anchor (digital)

The town also used to be a port, providing for the ships anchored in the sheltered anchorage known as the Downs and has one of only seven surviving timeballs in the UK. The Timeball Tower is four-storeys high and stands at where the entrance of the old Naval Yard used to be. The tower, with a huge anchor in the foreground, makes for an interesting subject.

Deal, Kent Photography Opportunity #6 – The Castles

By the time of Henry VIII the importance of the Downs made the coastline worthy of protection. Two of the original three castles built at that time survive. The artillery fortress at Deal, Kent (constructed 1539–40) is squat and functional. Another is close by at Walmer but this has evolved into an elegant stately home where the Duke of Wellington stayed in his role as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports until his death at the age of 83 in 1852. A third castle at nearby Sandown was lost to the sea and is now little more than a rockery, though the area is still worth a visit.

Opportunity #7 – Out and About in South East Kent

Whilst photography in Deal, Kent provides plenty of photographic opportunities, the town is also a great base for photographers to explore the rest of South East Kent. Folkestone, Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Canterbury are all within easy reach. Further afield, Whitstable and Dungeoness beckon. I often visit these destinations when I stay in Deal, but the town itself remains my favourite place anywhere.

Opportunity #8, Deal Around the World

Photography in Deal, Kent is not the only photographic option in a place with that name – there are a few other Deals and Deal Islands around the world. I haven’t visited any of them, though I have unknowingly been very close to another seaside Deal in New Jersey, USA many times. For some years I worked for a software company based in Monmouth County, New Jersey and I often visited the seaside at Long Branch, which is the next town on the coast and only about 5 miles from the other Deal. If only I had known about it at the time! You can read more about the other places called Deal here.

The pubs of old deal ship photography inn — The Ship Inn, Deal (digital)

Tag: Deal photography