Site of mid 20th century temporary storage area or weapons testing site, Atomic Weapons Research Establishment Foulness, Foulness Island (EHER 82602)

Now destroyed. Four mid-twentieth century military buildings, almost certainly curved asbestos huts, and an area of disturbed ground are visible, on aerial photographs taken in 1946, to the east of the former site of Smallgains Farm, 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 Atomics 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. 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 (EHER 46720). The site is located near possible post-medieval settlement 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 1940s military structures were removed before or during the construction of buildings and infrastructure associated with the former AWRE.

NRHE data transfer: Four mid-twentieth century military buildings, almost certainly curved asbestos huts, and an area of disturbed ground are visible, on aerial photographs taken in 1946, to the east of the former site of Smallgains Farm, 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 Atomics 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. 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 (EHER 82600 - EHER 82606). The site is located near possible post medieval settlement (<1>) 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 1940s military structures were removed before or during the construction of buildings and infrastructure associated with the former AWRE. The site is centred at TQ 9811 9135 and extends over an area measuring 85m by 70m. <1> <2> <3>