Second World War Bombing Decoy, Brightlingsea (EHER 20308)

A Second World War bombing decoy at Brightlingsea that was built as part of the 'N-series' of naval decoys. It was administered by the Royal Navy at Harwich to deflect enemy bombing from naval facilities at Brightlingsea. This site operated as both a 'QF' and 'QL' decoy. The 'QF' decoys consisted of a series of controlled fires lit during an air raid to replicate a target struck by bombs. The 'QL' decoys featured a grid of muted lights set out, often around ponds or tanks of water, to resemble a port during a blackout. The site is referenced as being in use during 1941, though is likely to have been in use throughout the war. The decoy site is situated on marshland and no features of the decoy survives. A further bombing decoy for Brightlingsea was located at East Mersea.

Information from NRHE data import combined with existing HER entry. November 1999: Documented in contemporary records "BRI Brightlingsea" was a World War Two N Series (Naval) decoy controlled from Harwich. <1> This class of decoy was designed specifically for the protection of naval installations. Together with "BR2 East Mersea" (SMR 10036), this site was established to draw night-time bombers away from the naval facilities at Brightlingsea, one mile to the North Dobinson, 1996, records that the site was a QL/QF type - a type which not only attempted to deceive with dummy lighting but could continue the deception with fires from blazing "houses" and "factories" <1> <2>. Site visit November 1999: The area of the decoy is on a one-and-a-half-mile-long spit of sandbanks and marsh which parallels the coast from Lee-over-Sands to Point Clear. The contemporary Military Grid Reference, 98/536328, places the site at the extreme north end. <6> Nothing of the decoy or the night shelter can be seen on an aerial photograph taken in July 1946 and no remains were found at the time of the site visit. In many ways, the siting of this decoy is difficult to understand. Replenishment of the fires, engines and lighting equipment and provisions for the crew would have had to come either along the sands, which are cut at high tide, or by boat from Point Clear. Neither would have been easy. Similarly difficult would have been the maintenance of communications with its Harwich parent, essential for the critical timing of the displays. A simpler choice for a site would seem to be offered by the mainland marshes south of Point Clear. Two photos of site <4> No evidence of the decoys survive at the site <7>. Report ref <5> Additional ref: <6>