Mystery of concrete ring 'solved after 30 years'
National TrustThe purpose and function of a mysterious concrete ring at a former military testing site has been uncovered, the National Trust said.
The 50m (164ft) ring at Orford Ness, Suffolk, had baffled staff and volunteers at the coastal nature reserve since the trust acquired the site in 1993.
However, it said the mystery was solved after researchers Steve Clifton and Olaf Kirchner discovered the ring was part of a radar known as the R-System - designed to detect nuclear explosions and rocket launches during the Cold War.
The pair met the creator of the R-System in the United States, who confirmed the ring was part of the system, but he had no idea it had been set up in England, the trust added.
National TrustA large part of Orford Ness was purchased by the War Department in 1913 and was closely guarded to prevent public access.
Over the years, top-secret experiments were carried out for both World Wars and into the nuclear age.
Today it is a 10-mile (16km) vegetated shingle spit, joined to the mainland just south of Aldeburgh, and is also home to a large colony of grey seals.
The concrete ring was built by the US Air Force in the early 1960s and supported a steerable helical transmitter that could detect activity from thousands of miles away, the trust said.
It believed only eight of these rings were constructed around the world, but by the end of the 1960s the technology was phased out and replaced by satellites.
Google EarthClifton and Kirchner first visited Orford Ness in 2018 and later joined the International Research Group Orford Ness to research the site.
In 2020, they began looking at the ring and contacted 94-year-old Ed Lyon, the creator of the R-System.
In October last year, the pair travelled to Maryland in the US to visit Lyon, who shared valuable photographic and video evidence from 60 years earlier.
"It turned out that Ed himself had no idea that this radar system had been set up in England," Kirchner said.
"He had to get security clearance to talk to us about it, and we listened in awe for over two hours, getting first-hand accounts of Cold War intelligence gathering systems.
"It was a researcher's dream."
More stories from Suffolk:
ContributedWhile out in the US, the pair were able to visit two rings, including one in Roswell, New Mexico, which was compared with the one in Orford Ness.
No one on the site had any knowledge about the purpose of the rings, but their orientation and other details were similar to those on Orford Ness, Kirchner said.
"Due to the extreme secrecy under which they worked, people on Orford Ness never spoke of their projects and often took their details to their grave," Kirchner continued.
"While the reports covering their work are now mostly declassified, finding them is often difficult."
James Dobson/National TrustAngus Wainwright, regional archaeologist for the National Trust's East of England region, said the structure had always intrigued him.
"Like all the places we care for, our understanding of what happened on Orford Ness is constantly evolving," he said.
"Research is important to us, and we are always trying to further our understanding.
"Years ago, I quizzed some Orford veterans who worked in the building next door while the structure was operating, and they didn't know what it was for.
"It's only through the tenacity of these researchers that its secret function has now been revealed."
Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below.
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
