On the coast of Suffolk, a ten-mile-long shingle spit juts out from the mainland. It looks like an island, but it’s actually a cuspate foreland shingle spit – joined to the land by an increasingly thin strip of land.
Concrete pagodas loom over the landscape, a reminder of the nuclear testing that once took place here. But these pagodas are now a breeding ground for lesser black-backed gulls, just one of the pioneering conservation efforts on the site.
It brings to mind the recent stories of the Chernobyl wasteland in Ukraine, which is believed to be the most radioactive environment on Earth following the 1986 reactor explosion. Since the nuclear disaster, wildlife abounds in the exclusion zone, flourishing as a result of reduced human activity. Species such as lynx, boar, deer, elk and beavers have reappeared, with seven times more wolves in the zone than in the surrounding areas. "Chernobyl is a radioactive wasteland and a safe haven," writes Cal Flyn in her book Islands of Abandonment.
There’s an eerie quality to Orford Ness – blank against the landscape, a flat land occasionally punctuated by a Chinese water deer or a dancing hare. “I imagined myself amidst the remains of our own civilisation after its extinction in some future catastrophe,” wrote WG Sebald of Orford Ness in The Rings of Saturn.
What was Orford Ness used for in the 20th century?
The remote coastal nature and flat landscapes of Orford Ness made it the ideal location for top-secret military research and testing in the 20th century.
During World War One, it was used as an airfield and research base, testing propeller-driven planes, parachutes and aircraft weaponry.
In the interwar years, Orford Ness became a haven for radar research. Bawdsey Manor sits just down the coast – the home of radar development during this time. Robert Watson-Watt began his work on Orford Ness in the 1930s, before moving down to Bawdsey, a more secure site. The world’s first purpose-built radar tower was built on Orford Ness, with that work continuing into the Second World War.
As WW2 broke out, the MOD began testing bomb accuracy, ballistics and aerodynamics here.
In 1953, the site became the base for the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, testing the safety and efficacy of nuclear weapons – against the backdrop of the Cold War.
Also on site is a structure known as the 'Chinese Wall', a seawall built by a Chinese labour battalion. “The Chinese labour battalions were groups of Chinese people who entered the First World War on the side of the Allies: largely forgotten and omitted from many histories of the conflict,” writes Noreen Masud in A Flat Place. “They didn’t fight, but they dug trenches, built walls and barracks, unloaded military supplies, to release British and French men to serve on the front line.
"Britain was very unwilling to acknowledge the presence and role of Chinese labour in its war, and China didn’t want Germany to know it had cooperated. At Orford Ness, the Chinese Wall still quietly keeps the sea back, while the pseudo-Chinese ‘pagodas’, designed by the West for military testing, tower above it.”
Not the usual National Trust site…
In 1993, the National Trust bought Orford Ness from the Ministry of Defence, due to the evolving understanding of the importance of the landscape and wildlife. The internationally rare and highly fragile coastal vegetated shingle was of particular interest to the Trust, who wanted to protect this delicate ecosystem.
While the Trust cares for most of the site of Orford Ness, there is one corner which is privately owned. This includes Cobra Mist, a surveillance radar station once operated by the US.
The National Trust opened Orford Ness to the public in 1995, but has continued to limit human disturbance – with tickets limited on the Octavia ferry each day through its April-to-October season.
Remnants of war
The National Trust has blocked off several areas of the site to visitors, due to the risk of unexploded ordnance. Visitors are therefore asked to keep to way-marked routes and are limited in number.
Nature on Ness
Orford Ness is one of the most protected sites in the UK: it’s a National Nature Reserve, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a Ramsar site (a category for wetlands of important significance), a Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area. It’s also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, due to its shingle habitat, diverse wildlife and importance for migratory bird populations.
20 per cent of Europe’s vegetated shingle is on Orford Ness – the largest vegetated shingle spit in Europe. While there were bangs and explosions on Orford Ness during MOD ownership, personnel was restricted, protecting much of the landscape from human interference.
Noreen Masud describes it in her book A Flat Place as a "fantasy of post-apocalyptic space, covered with the contorted remnants of abandoned experiments, now grown over by nature."
What was once the First World War airfield is now a rich marshland habitat for wading birds.
Orford Ness is now home to Suffolk’s first breeding colony of grey seals. During lockdown, human disturbance on Orford Ness was reduced further – and suddenly, 200 grey seals arrived on the site. The following year, they returned again and began breeding. The group has since doubled – a significant year-on-year increase.
Recently, the British Arachnological Society conducted surveys of the site and found that 55 species of spider live on Orford Ness – several of which are extremely rare.
Curated decay
Historic England has granted ‘scheduled monument’ status to several buildings on Orford Ness, including the AWRE (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) laboratories.
The National Trust has adopted a policy of ‘curated decay’ for many structures on site, as they were given their scheduled monument status based on their already derelict condition. Buildings including the ‘pagodas’ are maintained as ruins, with minimal or no intervention to either prevent or speed up their decay. Due to the nature of their original use, most buildings on Orford Ness were only designed to have a short lifespan of a few years.
A dynamic site
Like much of Britain’s coastlines, Orford Ness is a victim of coastal erosion. In 2020, the National Trust was forced to demolish the 228-year-old Grade II-listed lighthouse, due to the looming coastal erosion. The distance to the shoreline reduced from 20m to 10m from 2005 to 2015, with additional damage caused by severe weather and storms.
Orford Ness itself was formed by longshore drift.
Walks near Orford Ness
- Walk: Shingle Street, Suffolk - the Invasion that never was?
- Day out: Havergate Island, Suffolk
- Walk: Boyton Marshes, Suffolk
Top image credit: Getty Images
