Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Orford ... - English Heritage

hostel. Adjacent to this is the site of the RFC Headquarters B7/21 that was last used as
a Mess and Locker Rooms. It too was constructed from pre-cast concrete blocks with
a pitched roof and facing the flying field along its northern side is a covered veranda. To
its east is another Second World War brick structure, the Machine Shop B6/22, this
building has been refurbished as the National Trust site office. Opposite it is a small brick
Lavatory B11 that was constructed in 1962 and remains in use. The last large standing
building is the First World War Motor Transport Shed that was used by AWRE as a
Heavy Workshop B5/24, and remains in use as a workshop (Figure 19). To its east a
number of small huts survive, including the Air Compressor Room 25, Alkaline Battery
Charging Room 82, and the Battery Charging Shop 69. To the north of the main track
are three large concrete slabs that mark the position of Hangars, and to the south
concrete floors of smaller buildings. To the north of this area, on the former flying field,
is a Second World War building that was last used as the Radio Laboratory 84/A5. The
buildings B6/22, B8/78 and B9/77 were all constructed at some time after January 1942
and before the end of the war (RAF/BR289 (VB) 5 7 Jan 1942).
Orford Beach
The main area of AWRE development was to the south of Stony Ditch, where eventually
about 80 hectares (198 acres) of Orford Beach was enclosed. Prior to this date most of
this area had been part of the bombing range and air photographs show craters caused
by exploding bombs, and many of which remain (Figures 41 and 44). Prior to the 1950s
there were few buildings in this area, the most prominent was the 18 th century lighthouse
and its associated cottages.
The magazine area
On the south side of Stony Ditch are a number of structures pre-dating the Second
World War associated with the storage and handling of bombs and other aircraft
munitions (Figure 44). In keeping with practice elsewhere they are placed remotely from
the flying field and its associated buildings, and in this instance also from the town of
Orford. Access to this group of buildings was by a trestle bridge that carried a narrow
gauge tramway across Stony Ditch, on the south side of the ditch are traces of its low
pebbly embankment and occasional wooden sleepers. The earliest buildings dating
from the First World War are two Magazines D1/37 and D2/36/85. Magazine D1 lies
to the east, it is rectangular in plan, 11.15m (36ft 7in) by 8.1m (26ft 6in), of cavity wall
construction with pre-cast concrete block walls and is covered by a pyramidal wooden
roof capped with a central ventilation lantern. The building is entered from the north
through a double door opening with windows to either side; the present doors and
windows probably date from the 1950s. Internally are raised storage platforms to either
side of a central passageway that probably originally allowed stores to be loaded directly
onto flatbed tramway wagons. To its west is Magazine D2/36/85 (Figure 20), this is of
a similar form although it is constructed from mass concrete and has undergone more
substantial alterations (Figure 21). It too is rectangular in plan, 11.05m (36ft 3in) by 8.2m
(26ft 10in) and covered by a wooden pyramidal roof, with a lantern that is now stored
within the building. The lower sections of its walls are cast from mass concrete and cast
into the rear wall is a concrete plaque that records ‘Ches Fld Coy RE’ (Cheshire Field
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