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Orford Ness, described by a BBC documentary as 'half wilderness, half military junkyard', is a Shingle Spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain , linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford . It is divided from the mainland by the River Alde , and was formed by Longshore Drift along the coast. The material of the spit comes from places further north, such as Dunwich . The peninsula was formerly administered by the Ministry Of Defence , which conducted secret Military tests during both World War s and the Cold War . The Atomic Weapons Research Establishment had a base on the site, and is believed to have developed the firing mechanisms for nuclear devices there. Many of the buildings from this time remain clearly visible from the Quay at Orford, including the distinctive-looking ' Pagoda s' which were not, as is often claimed, designed to collapse in the event of an accidental explosion.1 The Orfordness Transmitting Station is located on the peninsula and it broadcasts BBC World Service across the North Sea to western Europe and Radio Nationaal to Holland. The site and building were previously used by an experimental military Over-the-horizon Radar known as Cobra Mist . In the 1930's Ordfordness was the Telecommunications Research Establishment which later moved to nearby Bawdsey Manor and the development of the Chain Home radar system invented by Robert Watson-Watt . Orford Ness is within the Suffolk Coast And Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public under the name "Orford Ness National Nature Reserve", though some buildings are closed off because of their advanced state of disrepair. In his travel book ''Rings of Saturn'', the writer W.G. Sebald discussed his experience of visiting Orford Ness, likening it in appearance and atmosphere to a post-nuclear wasteland. Rachel Woodward writes:2Note: Woodward states that the testing grounds closed in the early 1990s. Owing to its military history, its stark appearance and the fact that it was closed to the public for many decades, several apocryphal stories have circulated about Orford Ness. The best-known is the suggestion that Nazi troops attempted to invade England and actually disembarked at the tip of the peninsula, before being repelled with a wall of fire. However, Shingle Street residents of the time have subsequently denied any such attempted invasion took place, and the story is now largely dismissed as Myth . GEOGRAPHY Orford Ness is Europe's largest vegetated shingle spit.3The name 'ness' means 'promontory'. See 4 It is approximately 15 km long,Annex 06: Orfordness in: 5 and the site covers a total area of approximately 901 hectares (9km&2).6 Forty percent of this (360ha) is shingle, 25 percent (225ha) tidal rivers, mud flats, sand flats, and lagoons, eighteen percent (162ha) grassland, and fifteen percent (135ha) salt marsh. The spit formed almost entirely of flint deposited by waves through the process of long-shore drift. The main inflence on its formation has been storm waves throwing shingle over the top of the beach crest, where it is protected from ordinary wave action. Over time, this process leads to the formation of stable ridges of fine particles, and swails of coarser shingle. The size and shape of the spit fluctuates over time (see map). Estimated growth rates range from 64m per year in 1962 to 1967, to 183m per year in 1804 to 1812. Between 1812 and 1821, the total length fluctuated by 2.9km.7 As a result of the dynamically changing nature of the spit, the true age of its formation is unknown.8 However, before about 1200, Orford is thought to have been a port facing the open sea.9 SEE ALSO
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