Site of Second World War floodlight and accommodation site, East of Ashingdon Road, Rochford (EHER 20756)

Now destroyed. The site of a Second World War floodlight and accommodation site which can be seen in an aerial photograph from May 1946. 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 accommodation building remained.

February 2003. World War Two Defences in Rochford survey: site visit and desktop research. An aerial photograph taken in May 1946 shows the clear shape of a 12-sided 'floodlight' standing in open fields some 600 yards to the east of Ashingdon Road. 100 yards to the east of the floodlight, at least two Nissen-type huts can be seen with several other structures. This was clearly the accommodation site for those serving the floodlight although by the time of the aerial photograph all would have been long-abandoned as floodlights as a defensive concept were closed down in 1940. <1> The site of the floodlight has now been built over by the houses of Nos 80/82 The Drive. The site of the Nissen-type huts is now a school field. <2> 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; an enquiry to the Imperial War Museum has been unsuccessful. Enquiries by Mr F. Plume at the Public Record Office (PRO) in 1992/1993 have resolved some of the questions. <3> <4> 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. <5> <6> The project was termed 'Silhouette'. <7> See EHER 20565 for details of the only known remaining example of a Second World War floodlight from this experiment in Essex.