Site of Second World War floodlight, North of South Fambridge Hall (EHER 20692)

Now destroyed. The site of a Second World War floodlight and generator building. The floodlight was probably constructed between 1936 and 1940 as part of an experiment to light up the night sky with a grid of large, fixed 'floodlights', as a defence against German bombers. The experiment, termed 'Silhouette', failed as the network of floodlights acted as a navigational aid for the enemy aircraft, and it was subsequently terminated in March 1940. When visited in 2003, nothing of the floodlight or the generator building remained.

June 2003. World War Two Defences in Rochford survey: site visit and desktop research. An aerial photograph taken in May 1946 shows the clear 12-sided shape of a 'floodlight' standing in the corner of a field 100 yards to the North of South Fambridge Hall farm buildings. A few yards away to the SE, its generator building can be seen. <1> When visited in June 2003, one of the hedges which formed the corner, from West to East and to the North of the floodlight, has now been taken away. Nothing of the floodlight or the generator building remains and the site is now an open arable field. <2> One photo. <3> During the late 1930s/early 1940s (probably 1936-1940), an experiment was conducted to light up the night sky with a grid of large, fixed 'floodlights', as a defence against German bombers. Each installation consisted of a steel enclosure, 50 feet across, in which the floodlight was mounted, surrounded by twelve large mirrors angled towards the sky. Information on the experiment is still scarce although enquiries by Mr F. Plume at the Public Record Office (PRO) in 1992/3 have resolved some of the questions. <4> <5> A map drawn by Mr Plume in 1999, from his earlier investigations, shows 50 sites in Essex, located in an area from Little Leighs in the North to Eastwick in the South. It is not known whether this was the complete grid (although one floodlight is known to have been sited at Dovercourt, EHER 10715) or whether the experiment overlapped to other counties. The experiment was not a success - it is said that the light reflecting from the clouds lit up the countryside as a perfect navigational aid for the bombers, and the work was terminated in March 1940. <6> <7> See EHER 20565 for details of the only known remaining example of a Second World War floodlight from this experiment in Essex.