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

converted into a small office. The other two Fuze Magazines D4/42 and D5/41/87 were
either retained in their unaltered form or abandoned.
Adjacent to the Black Beacon G1/40, the Headquarters G3/47 has been demolished but
may be traced as a large U-shaped floor slab (Figures 23 and 48). It was built in two phases;
originally, around 1956, it comprised a single-storey, L-shaped prefabricated concrete panel
building to the north, whose primary function as telemetry recording. Perhaps as part
of the 1960 expansion scheme a rectangular brick wing was added to the south. Scars
on its slab reveal the internal layout of the building, with offices in the north wing and a
probable stores area to the east and south. To the rear are the concrete bases for a metalframed
covered area, possibly a stores area or bicycle shelter. Air photographs show that
the building was complete by 1964, but the chronological sequence of air photographs
is insufficient to confirm the date of the extension. To its north was a detached brick
boiler house finished in Burwell whites, surviving details on its slab mark the position of
former walls, door thresholds and plant bases. To its southeast is the concrete floor slab
of a timber hut which was the Office Annexe G6/50, again scars on its surface reveals its
internal layout.
It is believed that the Black Beacon G1 was adapted by AWRE for telemetry recording
and to its west is a concrete mast base and three concrete cable anchors, probably
used to support a mast. Adjacent to the Black Beacon is a concrete slab EH5, which
measures 3.05m (9ft 10ins) square and probably represents a small fenced storage
compound. The 1920s Generator House G2/46 was reused as a Workshop and it is
probably at this time that the porch and the brick out-shot to the east were added. To
the east of G1 is the Small Vibration Laboratory G5/48, this is a rectangular building,
6.95m (24ft 10in) by 6.05m (19ft 10in), faced in Burwell White bricks that contrasts with
its red brick west wall. The porch is a later addition and partly overlies an original metal
door strip, which indicates that the use of this building as a Small Vibration Laboratory is
a secondary function. To the west of the building is a 0.92m (3ft) circular concrete track
with an external diameter of 6.98m (22ft 11in), faint grooves on its surface, with a gauge
of 0.4m (1ft 4ins), mark the track of a test vehicle designed to subject components to
sustained gentle vibration. A narrow filled channel between the track and the building
probably marks the position of a control and monitoring cable. The late date of this
feature is confirmed by a 1965 air photograph on which it is absent (OS/65054 (V) V-028
20457 30 Apr 65).
In about 1964 a series of radio experiments began around the Bomb Ballistics Building
H1/44. The purpose of these experiments is unknown, but they were probably not part
of AWRE’s activities (Figure 24). To the southeast of the Bomb Ballistics Building H1/44
are the remains of an Antenna H50 base, which comprises at its centre a large 0.42m
(1ft 4in) square post that sits within a circular concrete ring 25.37m (83ft 3in) in diameter,
this is 1.07m (3ft 6ins) wide and on its surface are fixing bolts. To the northwest of this
feature is a rectangular slab that marks the position of associated huts. The circular
feature and its hut was in place by August 1964 and by the following April had been
joined by two long linear arrays to the south and north, the one to the south causing the
road to the lighthouse to be diverted (RAF/58/6492 (F41) 0079 27 Aug 64; OS/65054
V-029 20457 30 Apr 1965).
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