Desk-based assessment by English Heritage at Foulness Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Rochford, 2004 - EEX62801

A desk-based assessment based on brief field visits to the range, the examination of primary documents in the National Archives, historic air photographs and Ordnance Survey maps, and the study of the few secondary sources relating to the site. NRHE data transfer: A desk top assessment of the former Atomic Weapons Establishment Foulness, was prepared as part of the Cold War People and Place project. In 2001 the site was identified by the English Heritage thematic study of Cold War monuments Cold War Monuments: an assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme as being of national importance. This report recommended that the area should be protected by a combination of Scheduling and Listing. Following this recommendation an initial visit was made by English Heritage designation staff to Foulness Island in July 2002. Running in parallel to these visits, and in close consultation, English Heritage's Research and Standards department commenced a project Cold War, People and Place with the intention to record four Cold War period Research and Development sites. This project was designed to be exemplary in nature and to establish a recording methodology for others to follow. The sites were selected for survey for multiple reasons, including the needs of the Monuments Protection Programme for better documentation to inform their designation as scheduled monuments or listed buildings. These internal initiatives were overtaken by an announcement by the Department of Culture Media and Sport of a review of the heritage legislation in the discussion document Protecting the Historic Environment: making the system work better (2003). To study how any changes might work in practice English Heritage was asked to undertake a series of pilot studies, one of which was the Shoeburyness Range within which Foulness Island lies. Shoeburyness Range was chosen as a pilot study on a number of grounds, including its ownership by a large government landowner, the Ministry of Defence, it is also an area where many natural environment designations already exist. Some of the Range's protected historical assets include scheduled Romano-British remains and 17 listed buildings. In addition there are outstanding designation issues relating to a Second World War mock-up of Hitler's Atlantic Wall and the Cold War Atomic Weapons Research Establishment area. This desk-top report on the former Atomic Weapons Research Establishment was prepared during 2004 as part of the assessment of the Range's historic assets carried out for the pilot study. It is based on three brief field visits to the range, the examination of primary documents at the National Archives, historic air photographs and Ordnance Survey maps, and the study of the few available secondary sources relating to site. The report describes the physical development of former Atomic Weapons Research Establishment and provides an outline of the historical context of the activities carried out within the site.