Site of post-medieval farm and mid 20th century temporary storage area or weapons testing site, AWRE, Foulness Island (EHER 82605)

Now destroyed. An area of disturbed ground is visible, on aerial photographs taken in 1946, to the east of the former site of Smallgains Farm (EHER 82600), adjacent to The Fleet on Foulness Island. They are located in an area owned by the government and used during World War II by the Armament Research Department and subsequently by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (EHER 46720). It is likely that the site relates to World War II activity on Foulness Island, possibly associated with defence during the war and/or immediate post-war explosives testing. It is likely, as with other similar sites in the area, that there were temporary buildings. The site may therefore have functioned as a storage and/or ad-hoc testing area. The area is linked by a temporary access road to Churchend road and Smallgains Farm as well as other possible testing areas to the north east and south west (EHER 82600 - EHER 82606). The site is located near possible post-medieval settlement called Pond Marsh and it is possible that the military have used an area of naturally raised ground or a man-made platform associated with a post medieval building. There was, however, no direct evidence of this on the aerial photographs as the ground is too disturbed by the later activity. The area was cleared and reverted to pasture during the construction of the buildings and infrastructure associated with the former AWRE.

NRHE data transfer: An area of disturbed ground is visible, on aerial photographs taken in 1946, to the east of the former site of Smallgains Farm (TEHER 82600), adjacent to The Fleet on Foulness Island. They are located in an area owned by the government and used during World War II by the Armament Research Department and subsequently by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (EHER 46720). It is likely that the site relates to World War II activity on Foulness Island, possibly associated with defence during the war and/or immediate post-war explosives testing. It is likely, as with other similar sites in the area, that there were temporary buildings. The site may therefore have functioned as a storage and/or ad-hoc testing area. The area is linked by a temporary access road to Churchend Road and Smallgains Farm as well as other possible testing areas to the north-east and south-west (EHER 82600 - EHER 82606). The site is located near possible post-medieval settlement (<1>) called Pond Marsh and it is possible that the military have used an area of naturally raised ground or a man-made platform associated with a post-medieval building. There was, however, no direct evidence of this on the aerial photographs as the ground is too disturbed by the later activity. The area was cleared and reverted to pasture during the construction of the buildings and infrastructure associated with the former AWRE. The site is centred at TQ 9856 9139 and extends over an area measuring at least 50m by 40m. <1> <2> <3> See also <4>.