Site of Second World War floodlight, Recreation Ground, Parkeston (EHER 21388)

Now destroyed. The site of a Second World War floodlight and generator building, the bases of which can be seen in aerial photographs from 1946 and 1948. 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 2011, nothing of the floodlight or the generator building remained. This floodlight sat outside the main network and is thought to be one of just three in Harwich.

March 2011. World War Two Defences in Tendring survey: site visit and desktop research. Aerial photographs taken in 1946 and 1948 show the clear shape of an experimental 'floodlight' base beside allotments immediately to the east of the recreation ground. The superstructure had clearly been removed by this date but the annular ring of the concrete base remained. A few yards away to the south-east the base of the stand-by generator house can be seen. <1> <2> In March 2011, the site is now concrete car parking and access roads. <3> This floodlight is one of only three in Harwich (see also EHER 21388 and EHER 10715), and it was originally thought that the one at Dovercourt (EHER 10715) was perhaps an early prototype. The discovery of this floodlight from 1946 aerial photographs has proved the three form an equilateral triangle around Harwich. These were, it appears, intended to cast an 'umbrella' of light across the town. <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; 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. <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> The project was termed 'Silhouette'. <8> See EHER 20565 for details of the only known remaining example of a Second World War floodlight from this experiment in Essex.