WWII, Naval Decoy Control Bunker, Nr Harwich Road, Bradfield Heath.
The scheduled part of the decoy includes the night shelter which is situated to the south of the Stour River valley, some 1,476ft south west of Spinnel's Farm, ''WRI Spinnels Farm'' was a World War Two N Series (Naval) Decoy controlled from Harwich. This class of decoy was designed specifically for the protection of naval installations - in this case the Sea Mine Depot at Wrabness (TM 162 316), two miles to the north.
N. Dobinson, 1996, records that the site was a QF type - a type which attempted to replicate the night-time fires from a successful raid on a specific target. Similar to Temporary Starfish sites, QF's mainly used basket fires but could add other fire sources to these depending on the nature of the target being replicated. Located some distance from the decoy area, the electrical ignition for the fires was controlled from an earth-covered ''night shelter'' which housed the generator and switchgear.
Site visit September 1999: The contemporary Military Grid Reference of the site, 98/610480, is open farmland on a north-facing hillside, south-west of Spinnels Farm. Little can be seen on a 1946 aerial photograph in this position other than some blotching of the soil but this is not positive enough to establish the precise position of the decoy arrays. 1,200ft to the north-west, overlooking the decoy area from the other side of the valley, the night shelter survives in fine condition.
This is very much the same pattern as the naval decoy at Kirby-le-Soken; it is 32ft long, with the Operations Room 12ft long x 10ft wide and the Engine Room 10ft long x 11ft 6in wide. Between the two is an entrance chamber with a small toilet room. The Operations Room has an escape hatch with steel ladder; the remains of the flue outlet for the stove is in the far left-hand corner. Halfway up the right-hand wall there are four ceramic pipe outlets.
These are thought to have been for channelling the electrical switchgear cabling to the outside. In the Engine Room, the engine bed is on the right-hand side and three steel exhaust outlet pipes lead through the north wall to the outside. It is thought that the bunker was constructed as standard with these, but as only one engine was required for powering the fire ignition, only one exhaust pipe would have been used. In the walls are three large ventilation pipes.
The earth banking around the bunker has been removed, allowing the outside to be accessible for study. Site Assessment: Like its partner at Kirby-le-Soken this example of a Naval Decoy Control Bunker is in fine condition providing a valuable example of this defence type. All efforts should be made to ensure its preservation as an historic part of local and national World War Two architecture. The scheduled part of the decoy includes the night shelter which is situated to the south of the Stour River valley, some 450m south west of Spinnel's Farm.
A Level 3 Historic building record was completed in 2021. The building is built of 14in thick 2.5in x 4.3in x 8.8in Fletton brick walls set in hard sandy lime cement. At the time of the survey only the interior walls and the western exterior wall of the Entrance Lobby was exposed. The walls have recently been hard rendered to tank them and most of the voids have been filled. The central vent (which was trimmed with a large diameter ceramic pipe) has been smashed out and covered with a board.
The 8in thick roof is made from shuttered concrete reinforce with quarter inch thin wire bars.
It should be noted there are four rooms (different from listing description). The Entrance Lobby 6ft 6in x 7ft 6in, the Operations Room 10ft x 12ft, the Engine Room 10ft x 11ft 7in and a WC cubicle 4ft x 4ft. There is an entrance port protected by 45 degree sloping walls with a parapet to prevent soil from falling into the passageway. The floors and roof are of shuttered steel reinforced concrete.
Information sourced from - www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?ui...
WWII, Naval Decoy Control Bunker, Nr Harwich Road, Bradfield Heath.
The scheduled part of the decoy includes the night shelter which is situated to the south of the Stour River valley, some 1,476ft south west of Spinnel's Farm, ''WRI Spinnels Farm'' was a World War Two N Series (Naval) Decoy controlled from Harwich. This class of decoy was designed specifically for the protection of naval installations - in this case the Sea Mine Depot at Wrabness (TM 162 316), two miles to the north.
N. Dobinson, 1996, records that the site was a QF type - a type which attempted to replicate the night-time fires from a successful raid on a specific target. Similar to Temporary Starfish sites, QF's mainly used basket fires but could add other fire sources to these depending on the nature of the target being replicated. Located some distance from the decoy area, the electrical ignition for the fires was controlled from an earth-covered ''night shelter'' which housed the generator and switchgear.
Site visit September 1999: The contemporary Military Grid Reference of the site, 98/610480, is open farmland on a north-facing hillside, south-west of Spinnels Farm. Little can be seen on a 1946 aerial photograph in this position other than some blotching of the soil but this is not positive enough to establish the precise position of the decoy arrays. 1,200ft to the north-west, overlooking the decoy area from the other side of the valley, the night shelter survives in fine condition.
This is very much the same pattern as the naval decoy at Kirby-le-Soken; it is 32ft long, with the Operations Room 12ft long x 10ft wide and the Engine Room 10ft long x 11ft 6in wide. Between the two is an entrance chamber with a small toilet room. The Operations Room has an escape hatch with steel ladder; the remains of the flue outlet for the stove is in the far left-hand corner. Halfway up the right-hand wall there are four ceramic pipe outlets.
These are thought to have been for channelling the electrical switchgear cabling to the outside. In the Engine Room, the engine bed is on the right-hand side and three steel exhaust outlet pipes lead through the north wall to the outside. It is thought that the bunker was constructed as standard with these, but as only one engine was required for powering the fire ignition, only one exhaust pipe would have been used. In the walls are three large ventilation pipes.
The earth banking around the bunker has been removed, allowing the outside to be accessible for study. Site Assessment: Like its partner at Kirby-le-Soken this example of a Naval Decoy Control Bunker is in fine condition providing a valuable example of this defence type. All efforts should be made to ensure its preservation as an historic part of local and national World War Two architecture. The scheduled part of the decoy includes the night shelter which is situated to the south of the Stour River valley, some 450m south west of Spinnel's Farm.
A Level 3 Historic building record was completed in 2021. The building is built of 14in thick 2.5in x 4.3in x 8.8in Fletton brick walls set in hard sandy lime cement. At the time of the survey only the interior walls and the western exterior wall of the Entrance Lobby was exposed. The walls have recently been hard rendered to tank them and most of the voids have been filled. The central vent (which was trimmed with a large diameter ceramic pipe) has been smashed out and covered with a board.
The 8in thick roof is made from shuttered concrete reinforce with quarter inch thin wire bars.
It should be noted there are four rooms (different from listing description). The Entrance Lobby 6ft 6in x 7ft 6in, the Operations Room 10ft x 12ft, the Engine Room 10ft x 11ft 7in and a WC cubicle 4ft x 4ft. There is an entrance port protected by 45 degree sloping walls with a parapet to prevent soil from falling into the passageway. The floors and roof are of shuttered steel reinforced concrete.
Information sourced from - www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?ui...