Orford Ness
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The 'pagodas' at Orford Ness |
Orford Ness, described by a BBC documentary as 'half wilderness, half military junkyard', is a
shingle spit on the
Suffolk coast in
Great Britain, linked to the mainland at
Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to
Orford. It is divided from the mainland by the
River Alde, and was formed by
longshore drift along the coast. The material of the spit comes from places further north, such as
Dunwich. The peninsula was formerly administered by the
Ministry of Defence, which conducted secret
military tests during both
world wars. The
Atomic Weapons Research Establishment had a base on the site, and is believed to have developed the firing mechanisms for nuclear devices there. Many of the buildings from this time remain clearly visible from the
quay at Orford, including the distinctive-looking '
pagodas' which were designed to collapse in the event of an accidental explosion. There is also a
transmitting station on the peninsula, which uses the former
Cobra Mist experimental
over-the-horizon radar site to send
medium wave broadcasts across the
North Sea to mainland
Europe.
Orford Ness is now owned by the
National Trust and is open to the public under the name "Orford Ness National Nature Reserve", though some buildings are closed off because of their advanced state of disrepair. In his travel book
Rings of Saturn, the writer
W.G. Sebald discussed his experience of visiting Orford Ness, likening it in appearance and atmosphere to a post-nuclear wasteland.
Owing to its military history, its stark appearance and the fact that it was closed to the public for many decades, several apocryphal stories have circulated about Orford Ness. The best-known is the suggestion that
Nazi troops attempted to invade
England and actually disembarked at the tip of the peninsula, before being repelled with a wall of fire. However,
Shingle Street residents of the time have subsequently denied any such attempted invasion took place, and the story is now largely dismissed as
myth.
Wartime events at Shingle Street are explored in more detail in two books by
James Hayward.
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Orford Ness National Nature Reserve information at the National Trust
